Love Is: Change
by redsandman99
Summary: As Shawn and John get ready for the wedding, Randy and Cody's friendship takes a new turn after a one night stand, Adam makes a surprising announcement and James's decision to starts taking a toll on him.
1. Chapter 1

The day was just starting to cool down as Shawn sat down at the table that had been set up in the backyard. He and John had decided to have a barbeque and had invited Matt, Adam and Glenn over to eat with them. Cameron and Cheyenne had gotten very excited when they found out company was coming over and they got even more excited when Adam had started playing with them almost as soon as he arrived. "Kids!" Shawn yelled for the fourth time. "Come over here and eat!"

"But Daddy, we're playing!" Cameron protested. He and Cheyenne had gotten really excited when they found out company was coming over and they had gotten even more excited when they realized that Adam was just as excited about playing with them.

"Yeah Daddy, we're playing house!" Cheyenne piped up. She was very pleased that she was finally able to get an adult to squeeze into her little playhouse. John hadn't dared to attempt it yet and Shawn hadn't either because of his knees and back. "Can't we eat later?"

Shawn shook his head. "You need to come over here and eat before the food gets cold," he insisted. "You guys can play after you're done."

The kids groaned but they did come over to the table. Adam started trying to get out of the playhouse but it proved to be much harder than he planned it to be. "Crap," Adam said loudly. "Damn it, when did this door shrink?"

Matt tried to hide the fact that he was kind of laughing at his boyfriend's expense. "Do you want me to come over there and help you?"

"Yes," Adam said immediately. "The door is being mean to me Matty!"

Shawn chuckled as Matt got up and walked over to save his boyfriend from the evil playhouse. "What a maroon," he said. He turned back around to put food on Cameron and Cheyenne's plate and discovered that John had already done it for him. "Aw, thanks baby," he said, leaning over and giving his fiancé a kiss on the lips.

"You're welcome," John replied, sucking on Shawn's lower lip just a little bit.

Glenn made a gagging noise. "You two can stop that any time now," he declared. "I am trying to eat here you know."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You're such a sour puss. We need to set you up with someone so you'll stop being so grumpy."

"Ugh," Glenn groaned. "Don't play cupid with me Michaels. You just need to mind your own business and worry about your wedding. It's only a month away after all."

Shawn paled. That was the last thing he wanted to think about at the moment. For over a year now, all he had wanted was for John to propose so they could have a gigantic wedding and live happily ever after. But now that they were in the midst of actually trying to plan the wedding, it was turning out to be a lot harder than he ever thought it would be. Not only was there an endless list of things to do, but there were a few family issues that they now had to deal with. His mother, his sister and Rebecca were fully supporting the marriage, but his father and John's entire family really weren't getting behind it. Now while Shawn knew that his dad would eventually come around, John's family were pretty much treating him like an outcast. John was trying to act like it didn't bother him but Shawn knew that it hurt him deeply. And to make it worse, there seemed to be nothing he could to make the situation any better.

His thoughts were interrupted by Matt and Adam sitting down at the table. "You okay?" he asked Adam, who looked frazzled by his struggle to get out of the playhouse.

Adam shook his head. "It tried to eat me," he claimed.

Cheyenne giggled. "It just wants you to be its friend."

"Yeah well, it needs to show it in a different way," Adam grumbled as he began to eat.

Shawn shook his head and turned his attention to his food. The thoughts he had about the wedding had spoiled his appetite a little bit, but he attempted to act like nothing was wrong. John noticed something was up anyway and gently placed his hand over Shawn's. "You okay honey?" he asked.

Shawn nodded. "I'm fine." He could sense that the others were all looking at him in concern now too so he decided to get the topic off of him as fast as possible. "How are things with Jeff, James and Mark?" he asked, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

Matt sighed. About a week after James had gone on the no killing people anymore plan, Adam had accidentally let slip to Morrison about what James really was and since Mor was who he was, he told the others within an hour and Mark had to have a big group meeting that left them with no doubts that keeping their big mouths shut about the whole matter was in their best interest. "As far as I know, things are fine with them," he replied. "Although I haven't really seen James all that much lately."

"You don't sound too bothered by that," John observed.

Matt just shrugged. "I'm not. I really don't want to have anything to do with the guy." He looked at Glenn. "No offense or anything."

Glenn shook his head. "Believe me, I don't really like him either. I only put up with him because Mark loves him." He ate a couple of bites of potato salad before speaking again. "Mark's worried about him though."

"Why?" Adam asked.

"He says James is getting distant," Glenn answered. "At least that's what he told me earlier. He wouldn't say much more than that though."

Shawn sighed. Despite having an issue with the whole James murdering people thing, he did want to see Jeff and Mark be happy. "Well hopefully things work out for them," he said with a sigh.

Glenn nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully they do."

…

Thirty three days, sixteen hours, forty five minutes and nine seconds. That was how long it had been since he had last killed someone. James tapped his pen against the table, hoping that it would soothe his mounting anxiety. It didn't, which just added to his frustration. "Fuck," he muttered. He threw the pen down and rested his head on the table. He felt like he was going to go crazy. It had been two weeks since the feeling had started and it was not getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse and worse as each day went by. It was becoming a lot more than he could take.

_Why the fuck did I agree to try this?_ he asked himself for the millionth time. He couldn't stop asking himself that, no matter how hard he tried.. At the time he made the decision, he had thought maybe it was the best thing to do. Not killing anymore would make Jeff happy, get Matt and Gil off his back and prevent some of the same arguments that he and Mark always had. But once he started trying to live life without killing, none of the reasons he had used to begin with seemed worth it anymore. The bloodlust he had was furious at him for denying it and it was making him pay dearly.

"James? Are you okay?"

James moved his head up and saw that Jeff was standing behind him. "I'm fine," he lied. He rubbed his eyes and shoved the papers he had been looking at back into the folder they had come in. "Tax stuff just gives me a headache."

"Aw, poor baby," Jeff said. He wrapped his arms around James and kissed him on the cheek. "I hate taxes too." This time he kissed James's neck. "We could go upstairs and I could help you forget all about those pesky things."

Just a month or so ago, James would have been all over that idea. But now he didn't even want to be touched. Every time Jeff and Mark kissed him, it felt like he was getting kissed by sandpaper. As for sex…well, quite frankly, he didn't even _want_ to have sex anymore. He actually had to pop a Viagra the other night just to have sex with Mark and Jeff. "Ugh…Jeff I got a headache," he said. "All I want to do is lay down."

"Oh," Jeff said, trying to act like he wasn't disappointed. "Okay."

James quickly grabbed his folder and detangled himself from Jeff's embrace. "If Mark wants anything, tell him I'm not doing anything until I wake back up." He left the kitchen and then went upstairs to his, Jeff and Mark's bedroom. After throwing the folder on to the desk, he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. He knew that this wasn't going to do anything to make him feel better but he didn't know what else to do that didn't involve him going out and killing someone, opening up a can of worms that didn't sound appealing to deal with at the moment. _Thirty three days, sixteen hours, forty eight minutes and twenty seven seconds…twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty…_

…

"Cody? Jesus Christ man, are you ready yet?"

Cody rolled his eyes as he continued to button up his shirt. "I'm almost done Ted," he said in exasperation. "Just give me a moment."

Ted shook his head as he leaned back up against the door. "You are such a slow poke," he complained. "You're worse than Mor is."

"I am not," Cody said defensively. "Good grief, you're acting like this club is going to close at any second."

"I am not," Ted claimed.

"You are too," Cody insisted. "Look, just because you wish Glenn was here and going with us so you could try to work up the courage to finally flirt with him."

Ted glared at him. "Don't even go there with me. At least I don't make puppy dog eyes at him every time he walks by like you do Randy." He smirked for a second before he saw the look on Cody's face. "Hey man, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have gone there."

Cody just shrugged. "Whatever man." He really was trying to get over his little crush on Randy, but it was harder than he wanted it to be. He knew that he didn't have a chance with the older man. Randy didn't do relationships and even if he did, why would he even want to be with him? It wasn't like he was special or anything.

A knock on the door caught Ted's attention. "Hey man, cheer up," he told Cody as he went to answer it. "There's other fish in the sea. We'll find you some hot guy to hook up with tonight."

Cody sighed. "You don't have to--" His voice died when Ted opened the door and Randy walked in. _Oh my God,_ he thought, completely awe struck by the sight of the Viper. Randy was wearing a skin tight black t-shirt and even tighter black leather pants that pretty much left nothing to the imagination.

"You guys ready to go?" Randy asked, seemingly not noticing the look on Cody's face.

"I'm ready," Ted said. He gave Cody a concerned look. " How about you?"

Cody could only nod dumbly. He already knew that this was going to be an extra long night. _God please, don't let me make an idiot out of myself. At least let me have some kind of composure here._


	2. Chapter 2

After they were done eating dinner, Shawn, John and Glenn worked on cleaning up while Matt watched Adam play with Cameron and Cheyenne. It was actually one of the most amusing things that Matt had seen in a long time. The three of them were actually playing Frankenstein. Cameron was Dr. Frankenstein, Cheyenne was Igor and Adam was the monster. "Is he properly strapped down Igor?" Cameron asked as he got ready to throw the imaginary switch.

Cheyenne nodded. "Yup. He's ready to go Dr. Frankie."

"It's Dr. Frankenstein," Cameron said, clearly annoyed with the fact that his sister could not say his name right to save her life.

She just rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She checked the jump ropes that were supposed to be holding Adam down before standing back. "Do it Frankie!"

Cameron threw the switch and laughed as Adam began making really loud groaning noises while pretending to have some sort of seizure. "He's alive! He's alive! He's--holy shit!"

"Hey hey hey!" Shawn yelled from the back porch. "Watch the language!"

"Sorry Daddy!" Cameron apologized as he and Cheyenne began running away from Adam, who was chasing after them while using the slowest, most lumbering walk that Matt had ever seen in his life. "You said you had him strapped down!" he yelled.

"I did!" Cheyenne said defensively.

Adam continued his lumbering walk, seemingly taking great delight in the fun the kids were having. "I eat your brains!" he announced loudly. "Brainzzzzz! Brainzzzz!"

Matt shook his head. "Frankenstein's monster wasn't a zombie sweetie. He was just a reanimated--"

"Shut up Matthew!" Adam grunted. "Zombies are cool. Frankenstein is a zombie now damn it!"

"Alright honey. Whatever you say." Matt wasn't going to argue with Adam about that. If Adam wanted to be a Frankenstein zombie, who was he to tell him no?

Adam spent the next half hour chasing Cameron and Cheyenne around all over the yard. He almost caught them several times, but before he actually got his hands on them, he either purposefully tripped himself so he would fall on his face or he would run into something, which allowed them to get away. It seemed like there was going to be no stopping the fun but then Shawn came out and had to interrupt the good time.

"Kids! It's time to come inside!"

Cameron and Cheyenne groaned. "Aw, but Daddy!" Cheyenne pouted. "We want to play more!"

Shawn shook his head. "You can play tomorrow. Both of you need a bath and then you need to start getting ready for bed soon."

Cameron looked ready to protest more but Adam stopped him before he started. "We'll play later, okay?" he said, ruffling both kids' hair.

"Okay," they both reluctantly said at the same time.

Shawn grinned as the kids went into the house. "You guys want to come in and have a couple more beers with me and John?" he asked Matt and Adam.

Matt was about to agree when Adam spoke up. "We will but uh…I have to talk to Matt about something real quick," he announced.

Matt raised his eyebrows. _What is this about?_

"Okay," Shawn said, looking just as confused as Matt was. "Just don't make us wait too long."

Matt watched Shawn go back into the house and then looked at Adam. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

Adam walked over to Matt and sat down on his lap. "Look, I know we haven't been together all that long," he said, sounding more than a little nervous. "I mean, just a few short months ago, I was stuck in my relationship with Dave and ready to kill myself because it was so bad."

Matt winced. He didn't like reminiscing about how bad things had gotten for Adam and how long it had taken him to notice it. "Adam--"

"Just let me finish," Adam said quickly. He paused for half a second to take a deep breath before continuing. "There's something that I've been wanting for awhile but I've been too scared to say it. Dave made it so clear to me that he didn't want anymore and given everything that's happened lately I haven't been able to find a good time to bring it up and plus I don't know how you feel about it--"

"Baby, why don't you just say it?" Matt suggested gently. He knew that if he let Adam keep babbling like this, the blonde was just going to keep getting more and more worked up. "Come on, you know you can tell me anything."

Adam nodded. "I know I just…umm…would you be weirded out if I told you that I want to have a baby?"

Matt sat there and just stared at Adam incredulously for a couple of minutes. It quickly became apparent to him that his boyfriend was completely serious about this. "Honey, I don't know how to tell you this, but you're a guy. You can't get pregnant."

Adam rolled his eyes. "I know that doofus. I know that we would have to adopt or have a surrogate and you are just looking at me like you want to put me in an insane asylum."

"I am not," Matt said quickly, trying to wipe the incredulous look off his face. It wasn't really working that well though because he was truly taken by surprise by this announcement. He hadn't even really thought about having children before, not even when he used to be with Amy. The closest the two of them came to having kids was getting Lucas and once he was in the picture, the thought of actual human babies to call his own hadn't popped up into his head until just that moment. "I just…you took me by surprise. That's all."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "You sure? You look like Jeff when we tell him we're out of Skittles."

Matt sighed. "Hey um…can we finish this discussion later? I mean, John and Shawn are waiting for us and they might interrupt once they start getting impatient." That was a bullshit excuse and not only did he know it, but he could tell Adam knew it too. But even though he despised bullshit reasons, he wanted to stick with this one for now. Normally he liked kids but just thinking about having some himself scared the crap out of him.

"Fine," Adam said. He was trying to act like Matt's reaction didn't bother him but he was failing miserably. "Let's just go get that beer then."

Matt watched Adam get off his lap and go into the house. "Fuck," he muttered. _Kids….kids…kids are…no, I'm not going there._ He stood up and went into the house too. Just because he was supposed to be the responsible Hardy brother did not mean that he was ready to even think about having kids. That was just one responsibility that he wasn't sure he would ever be ready to take.

…

Jeff found Mark in the living room watching TV with Cooper and Connor. But out of those three, Mark was the only one who acknowledge his presence. "Hey babe," he said as Jeff sat down on the couch with him. He frowned when he noticed the look in Jeff's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Jeff sighed and snuggled up to Mark. "I'm worried about James," he confessed. "He…he just rejected sex."

Mark looked completely taken aback by that statement. Even Cooper and Connor, who had been keeping their distance from Jeff when they found he was the reason James was stopping with the killing, looked startled. "Maybe he hates you now," Connor said with a shrug.

"Connor!" Mark growled as Jeff flinched at the words.

"What? It could be true." Connor didn't seem to grasp the impact of his own words."

Cooper shook his head and stood up. "Come on Connor, let's go watch this upstairs," he said as he grabbed his younger brother and pulled him up to his feet. "It's getting kind of crowded in here."

Jeff looked down at his hands as the two young men left the room. "They hate me," he said unhappily.

"They don't hate you," Mark said, even though he didn't even sound convinced by his own statement. "They're just…worried about James."

Jeff sighed and rested his head against Mark's shoulder. "Well I am too," he pointed out. "I just…I want to help him. I don't want this to be hard for him." He gave Mark a pleading a look. "We have to make this easier for him."

"I know we do," Mark said. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "I think we need to find him something else to get interested. You know, so his mind won't constantly be on the whole killing thing."

That sounded like a good idea to Jeff. "Well you stopped when you got into wrestling--"

"No no no, not that," Mark said quickly. "James isn't cut out to be a wrestler. I don't think we could trust him not to hurt someone if they really did piss him off. Besides, can you just imagine his promos? It would be "fuck this" and "fuck that" and "you crosskicking asshole I'll rip your intestines out and shove them down your throat". Shit, he'll get whatever show he's on thrown off the air so fast it would make our head spin.

Now that Jeff thought about it, he could see Mark's point. "So what should we get him interested in then?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mark said with a shrug. "But I'll think of something. Just trust me."

Jeff gave Mark a small smile before kissing him on the cheek. "You know I already do that," he said. "Hey um, do you uh…think I should try to win Cooper and Connor over?"

Mark thought about it and then shook his head. "No. Let them come around on their own. They might do it eventually."

"Might?"

"They're James's kids Jeff. They're just as stubborn as he is."

"Well technically Cooper's your kid…"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Don't let him catch you saying that. He wants nothing to do with me." He handed Jeff the TV remote and stood up. "Where's James at?"

"I think he went to go lay down," Jeff said. "He said he had a headache."

"Okay. Well I'll try to talk to him and see where his head's out. That sound good to you?"

Jeff nodded. "Thanks Mark."

"Any time Jeffro."

…

"You are going to get alcohol poisoning," Phil scolded as Randy and Jay downed yet another shot. "Are you aware of that?"

Randy rolled his eyes. He loved Phil to death; he really did. But there were times that he wished that straightedge man would just stop coming with them to places like this. He was always such a fucking buzz kill. "Dude, we know, okay?" he said in exasperation. "We've heard this speech a thousand times before. Can't you ever get new material?"

"Yeah really," Jay agreed. He wrapped his arm around Phil's shoulder. "Lighten up buddy. Alcohol is not the devil and you are not our savior. Get over it for two seconds."

Phil shook his head. "I wasn't saying that it was the devil and I sure as hell didn't tell you that I'm you're savior. I'm just saying that you two have drank way _way_ too much already. I mean seriously, do you two even remember where we are anymore?"

Randy and Jay exchanged looks. They actually really didn't remember which club that they were in at the moment. But instead of letting that bother them, they just laughed it off. "Fuck, I really need to get laid tonight," Randy announced, letting his eyes roam the bar for a suitable fuck.

"Jesus Orton, is that all you think about?" Phil asked in exasperation. "Don't you think it's time that you actually try to have a relationship?"

Randy snorted. "I don't do relationships. And look who's talking! You're single aren't you?"

"Actually I think he's about to ask Mor out on a date any time now," Jay piped up.

"Well that's great," Randy said. "But that shit is just not for me." He grinned as he caught sight of something out on the dance floor. "Look at them," he said, pointing out what he saw. "Aren't they adorable?"

Jay and Phil looked and saw Mor, Ted and Evan dirty dancing together. "Wow," Jay said, nodding in appreciation. "That is hot!"

Phil frowned. "It is but uh…where's Cody?"

Randy tilted his head to the side and realized that the Code Man was not with their other friends. "I'll find him," he volunteered. "I don't see anyone here I want to fuck here anyway." He started walking back to the table they had originally been sitting at when they had first gotten to the club, openly leering at a few hot pieces of ass he saw on his way. _Not bad…not bad at all. But not what I'm looking for either._

As it turned out, Cody was at the table they had been at earlier. "What are you doing here?" Randy asked as he stopped directly next to the younger man.

Cody shrugged. "I don't know," he said.

Randy frowned. Something was bothering his friend and he wanted to know what it was. "You should come dance with the rest of us," he suggested. "We don't want you to sit here all alone."

"No thanks," Cody said with a shake of his head. "I don't really feel like it."

That just perplexed Randy. His drunken mind could not understand why Cody did not want to come out and have fun with the rest of them "Are you mad at us or something?" he asked. "Cuz if you are then I'll kick Phil's ass for you. I don't know if he did it or not but we can just blame him for it."

Cody smiled just a little bit. "I'm not mad at anyone. I just…I guess I don't really feel like being here." He tried to wave Randy away. "You can go have fun though. I think I'll just go back to the hotel and sleep."

Now if it had been anyone else, Randy would have just let him go without a fight. But since he had a soft spot for Cody, he couldn't do that without feeling guilty about it later. "I'll go with you," he decided. He grabbed Cody by the hand and pulled him up to his feet. "We'll go to the hotel together."

Cody's eyes widened. "Randy no--"

"Yes Cody," Randy insisted. He was not going to take no for an answer. One way or another, he was going to make sure Cody had some fun tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

Cody could feel his heart pounding away like there was no tomorrow in his chest. He tried to take several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself back down, but it really didn't do much good. He was sitting in Randy's room, watching the Legend Killer try to make them a drinks in the little mini-bar that was in the room. But because he was so drunk, he was really pouring more on his hand than he was in the shot glasses. "Here, let me do it," Cody said when it finally became too pathetic for him to watch. He walked over and took the bottle of whiskey out of Randy's hands so he could pour the shots himself.

Randy smirked. He was so drunk that his eyes were completely glazed over. "You're so good Cody," he slurred out. He reached over and patted Rhodes on the head. "You're a good boy!"

Cody shook his head. "I'm not a dog Randy." He drank his shot and then frowned as Randy did the same thing. "I don't even think I should let you keep drinking. You have had more than enough as it is."

Randy waved his hands dismissively. "I have not," he denied. "I have had not nearly enough. I've only had…uh…" He stopped and tried to count the number of drinks with his fingers. "Uh…well I don't know but that's not important! What's important is that I'm here with you now, and I am here to help you with your problems."

"Randy I don't have any problems," Cody lied. He was getting frustrated with the fact that this subject just couldn't be dropped. Randy was the last person he wanted to talk to about the crush he was struggling with. "I don't know why you keep saying that. I'm perfectly fine."

"And I'm the Pope," Randy countered with a snort. He reached over and placed his hands on Cody's shoulders. "Coddles, I am here for you. Bare your soul to me my child or risk the wrath of my RKO."

Cody sighed. "Fine," he said reluctantly, only agreeing because he wanted to shut Randy up. "I…I like someone."

"Is it someone I know?" Randy asked, looking really excited at the thought.

"Yeah," Cody said as he gulped. "You know him pretty well."

Randy smirked. "And does this person like you back?"

"Not that I know of."

"Why? Is he dating someone or is he just stupid?"

"He's single and the stupidity thing is still up for debate." Cody let out a weak laugh at his lame joke. Randy however, didn't so much as grin. He looked deadly serious now.

"This is not acceptable," he declared. He moved his hands away from Cody's shoulders and up to his face. "You cannot take no for an answer. Your happiness is important. You must take a stand! Take what you want and refuse to take no for an answer my dear Chicken Legs."

Cody winced. He absolutely hated that nickname. "It's not that simple," he objected. "Even if I tell him, I really don't think it's going to work out. What I want and what he wants are two very different things."

Randy rolled his eyes. "Cody Cody Cody…don't be so down on yourself. Grow a set and express how you feel to the jackass."

Cody snickered. He wondered how Randy would feel if he found out that he had just called himself a jackass. "Why are you giving me relationship advice? You don't even believe in relationships."

Randy shrugged. "This isn't really relationship advice. This is just advice on getting the guy to notice you. Whether it turns into just sex or a relationship is all up to you." He slipped his shirt off and stumbled over to the bed. "The room is spinning," he said as he laid down. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "It won't stop spinning Cody. Why won't it stop?"

"I don't know," Cody answered. He couldn't stop staring at Randy's body right at the moment. He looked so delicious that it was more than what Cody could stand.

"What?" Randy asked when he realized that Cody was staring at him.

Cody shook his head. "Nothing."

Randy frowned and got back up. "Coddles I'm smashed and I know you're lying. That's not good." He walked right up to Cody, violating his personal space big time. "Now come on, don't keep anymore secrets from me. I don't like secrets. They're all…secretive."

Cody gulped. He didn't know what he should do. Part of his brain was telling him to push Randy away and get out of there. He couldn't let this get too far. Randy was drunk and things could go too far if he stayed. But as Randy continued to stare at him, he felt his resolve breaking. Finally he did make an attempt to move, but when Randy refused to get out of the way, his resolve finally broke. He grabbed Randy by the back of the head and kissed him, mentally kicking his own ass for doing this. Randy stayed absolutely still for a second but then kissed back, the alcohol probably fueling his reason in giving in.

_Holy shit holy shit holy shit,_ Cody thought as he was slammed up against the wall. Despite being shit faced, Randy had enough presence of mind to start being dominated, which really made Cody weak in the knees. He let out a whoreish moan as he was groped eagerly, absolutely loving the way Randy's hands felt on his body.

"Fucking buttons," Randy growled as he started trying to get Cody's shirt off of him. He decided that removing the item of clothing the normal way was too much of a hassle and ended up ripping it open and removing it forcibly. If Cody would have been in a normal state of mind he would have been upset because he had actually liked that shirt. But since he was so caught up in the moment, he only mewled as he was pushed down on the bed.

"Cute," Randy grunted. He freed himself from his leather pants before unbuttoning Cody's jeans and yanking them down. "Underwear? No no no…that's bad." He removed Cody's purple boxers next, tossing them all the way across the room before getting on the bed and devouring Cody's mouth in a drunk sloppy kiss. Cody kissed back as best as he could, all coherent thoughts being driven out of his mind today. Only in his wildest dreams did he ever think that this would ever happen, and even then, it didn't feel as good as this.

He whimpered in disappointment as Randy's lips left his, but it died in his throat as Randy began to kiss his way down his body. "Randy," he panted, gasping as the Viper began sucking and biting at his nipples, hardening them into little stubs. He bit down on his lower lip as he watched Randy go lower, his breath catching in his throat as Randy's lips got closer and closer to his dick. _Oh fuck…_

Randy suddenly took Cody's cock into his mouth, sucking on it hungrily and causing Cody to thrash around the bed violently. He put all of his weight down on the younger man's legs, making sure he couldn't move as much. Cody tried to arch himself up anyway, so close to cumming that he was about ready to scream.

Then, as suddenly as he started, Randy took his mouth away. "No," Cody whimpered. "Randy please…"

"Suck me," Randy ordered, pulling Cody so he was face to face with his crotch. "Make me wet for you."

Cody wasn't about to resist that order. He took as much of Randy's length as he could, not being able to get all of it into his mouth because it was so thick. He swirled his tongue around it, looking up at Randy as his hair was grabbed roughly.

"So good," Randy grunted, thrusting into Cody's mouth and causing him to gag. "So warm…"

Cody gagged again and tried to relax his throat as he continued the blowjob. His jaw was beginning to ache, but he didn't dare stop until Randy pulled out and laid him back down. "Fuck!" he shouted, closing his eyes and wincing in pain as Randy pushed into him without any more prepping. He gritted his teeth and shook his head, trying his best to adjust to Randy's size as quickly as possible.

"You okay?" Randy asked as he planted kisses all over Cody's jaw.

Cody nodded. "I'm fine," he said after taking several deep breaths. He wrapped his legs around Randy, crying out again when Orton started thrusting deeply into him. The sound of skin slapping on skin and their moans were the only sounds that were filling the room. Cody was clinging to Randy tightly, pressing their sweat soaked bodies together. He was trying to hold himself together so this wouldn't end too soon, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't do it. "Right there," he moaned, wrapping his hands around his dick and stroking it as fast as he could. "Oh please do that again please please please…"

Randy did it again, putting his hand over Cody's and helping him stroke himself. Cody's body began to jerk uncontrollably as a powerful orgasm overtook him, his mouth opening and letting out a scream that probably woke up the entire hotel. Randy grunted as Cody's walls tightened around his dick, having his own orgasm just seconds later. Cody gasped for breath as Randy made sure to milk them dry, his world spinning as he struggled to come down from his high. "Randy I…" He looked at the Viper and realized that he had passed out. He sighed and placed a gentle kiss on Randy's cheek. "I love you," he mumbled, closing his own eyes and drifting off to the most satisfying sleep he had had in years.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam didn't get much sleep that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw dozens of tiny babies dancing around in front of him, taunting him and showing him what he couldn't have before and maybe not even ever get. It depressed the shit out of him and caused him to stare up at the ceiling for what felt like ages. The whole wanting a baby thing was something he had struggled with off and on for years. He really did want to have a child, but he had never really been in a good enough place to think it was even possible before now. The fact that Matt had seemed floored and somewhat put off by the mere suggestion of children worried him a bit though. What if Matt really didn't want children? What was he going to do then? He didn't want to pressure Matt into it. The last thing he wanted was to Matt to start resenting him about it.

Knowing that it was pointless to just keep laying in bed, he got to his feet and went into the bathroom so he could shower. The water did kill a tiny bit of the exhaustion he was feeling but overall he felt like shit. "Fuck," he muttered, resting his head against the shower wall and breathing in the steam that was all around him.

"Adam?" Matt said as he opened the bathroom door without knocking. He stepped into the room and peeked into the shower. "You okay?"

Adam nodded before shutting off the water. "I'm fine." He grabbed his towel and dried himself off.

"Are you sure?" Matt smoothed back Adam's wet hair and shook his head. "You look exhausted."

"I couldn't sleep," Adam confessed. He realized that he didn't have his clothes with him so he went into the other room to get dressed.

"I noticed," Matt said with a sigh. He watched Adam get dressed, almost seeming reluctant to have the conversation that needed to be had. "Do you want to talk about it?" he finally asked.

Adam paused, chewing on his lower lip as he thought about it. "Not if you don't want to," he replied.

Matt sighed. "Are you mad at me? You know for me not automatically saying I want a baby too?"

"No," Adam said with a shake of his head. "I'm not mad. I just…I feel so stupid. I mean, I just sprung it on you without any warning and--"

"Hey, you don't have to apologize to me," Matt assured him, closing the distance between them and pulling him into a gentle embrace. "You want what you want. You don't have to hide that from me."

"But it's not what you want," Adam guessed, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Matt sighed again. "It's nothing I've ever really thought about before," he confessed. "I mean, I like kids just fine, but having some ourselves…that's a lot of responsibility."

"Yeah but we would only have one at a time," Adam pointed out.

"I know but even one would change everything for us. I mean, look at the way we live Adam. Look at what we do for a living. We're almost always on the road traveling and wrestling and doing promotional work. We--"

"Matt, I'm not stupid," Adam interrupted. "I know we live way too hectic of lives to have a baby right this second. I mean, we can't take it out on the road with us constantly. But I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life. I want to settle down and I want to start a family before I become a broken down guy who can't even go play catch with the kids without being in constant pain." He had suffered enough injuries to know that another major one could be his last, and he was at a point in his life where he was thinking about life outside of the crazy world of professional wrestling.

"I understand that," Matt assured him. "I really do. But we haven't been together all that long when you actually think about. I mean, kids are a nice idea, but right now, I'm enjoying just the two of us being together. And I don't want to lose that any time soon."

Adam sighed. Matt seemed like he was being honest but it also seemed like he was holding something back. He could see it in his eyes. But given how tired he was, he didn't really want to get into with the dark haired man right now. It would probably just lead to a fight, which was something that he could not handle right now. "Okay," he agreed. "Let's just drop it."

Matt frowned. "You're not mad at me are you?" he asked, sounding really worried about that.

Adam shook his head. He wasn't mad at Matt at all. "No, I'm fine. Now let's just forget about it." He slipped out of Matt's grip and leaving the room, doing his best not to turn around and see the look his boyfriend was currently giving him. _Damn it, I need a nap and a drink and it's not even noon yet. This is going to be a really long day._

…

Shawn sighed and stared at the list in front of him. He had so many things to get done before the wedding that it made him want to pull out his own hair and scream. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that he took great pride in his appearance, he would have done just that. "Fuck it," he said, throwing his pencil down and getting up. He needed to find John and get his help. He could not do this alone at the moment. He needed help and he needed it now.

He checked the living room first but only Cameron and Cheyenne were in there, watching Dora the Explorer. He checked the kitchen next, which was where he found John. His fiancé was on the phone and Shawn froze, taken aback by the look on John's face. "What's wrong?" he mouthed when Cena looked up at him.

John shook his head and began pacing back and forth. "And none of you thought to call me?" he asked whoever was on the phone with him angrily. "Are you serious? I love Aunt Carol too damn it. You guys should have called me as soon as she got sick. You--" His voice died and his eyes suddenly narrowed. "Oh you didn't think to? That's bullshit. You're all assholes. Yeah, you are. Fuck you Dan." He hung up the phone and threw it across the room.

Shawn flinched. John was usually so sweet and mild mannered outside the ring that it was very weird and frightening to see him like this. "What's wrong baby?" he asked, walking over to the larger man and wrapping his arms around him.

"Aunt Carol has pneumonia," John informed him, letting out a very heavy sigh. "She's been in a hospital for a week and I've _just_ been informed about it."

Shawn's jaw dropped in shock. "They _just_ told you. Are you serious?"

John nodded. "Dan said it just slipped their minds but he's lying. They just don't care enough about me anymore to bother calling."

Shawn bit his lower lip and hugged his lover tightly. He knew that John's family really was not accepting of their relationship, but letting that go to this point was completely ridiculous. _I've had it,_ he told himself as he kissed John's neck gently. _I'm not putting up with them. I'm getting a hold of the whole lot of them and I'm going to straighten them all out myself._

…

When Mark woke up the next morning, he found that James wasn't in bed with him and Jeff. He sighed before quickly putting on some pants and looking for his long time lover. He ended up finding him in his office, staring at the computer like it was the devil. "Will you talk to me now?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest. Last night James had refused to speak to him, which hadn't set well with him at all. Nothing was going to get solved with silence.

"I have nothing to say," James declared, leaning forward and looking at the keyboard. "Why the fuck can't they put the keys in alphabetical order?" he asked, sounding very annoyed at the moment.

"Because their assholes," Mark replied. He walked over to James and forced the former murderer to look at him. "Now quit ignoring me. I know you're struggling with this--"

"No, you don't know," James growled. "It was easy for you to give it up. You didn't do it for the same reasons I did it. You know nothing about what it's like for me."

Mark sighed. "Fair enough," he admitted. "But all this brooding and thinking about it isn't healthy for you. You need to find a way to distract yourself."

James glared at him. "You don't think I've tried?"

"Not very hard I don't," Mark admitted. He pulled James up to his feet. "That's why I'm going to help you."

James did not look amused. "How?" he asked. "What the fuck do you plan on doing?"

Mark shrugged. "I've got to go to the gym later. Maybe working out will relieve your tension. Hell, I'll sign you up for yoga classes or have Cooper teach you how to play online poker or something." Mark was willing to do just about anything to distract James at this point. Just looking at James and seeing him being a shell of his former self was absolutely killing him. None of the attempts James had made at not killing more had been this bad. Then again, they had never lasted this long before, so it wasn't like he ever had the opportunity to fall apart like this.

"So your solution to my problem is working out, yoga and poker?" James said in disbelief. "Yeah, what a list of a fantastic fucking ideas."

"Would you just work with me here please?" Mark asked. "Please, you're worrying the hell out of everyone here."

"Even you?"

"Yes."

James stared at him for a second before rolling his eyes and leaving the room. Mark tried to grab him but he got shoved away, and he ended up almost landing on his ass. "Shit," he muttered, now more worried about James than ever. _We need to find him a new hobby and fast, or we're all absolutely fucked if we don't._

…

When Randy finally aroused from his slumber, he initially didn't remember what had happened. It all came back to him when he looked down and saw that he was still on top of Cody. "Oh boy," he muttered, hardly believing it. He slowly got off the younger man, making sure not to disturb him. "What the fuck did I do?" he asked himself. He put his hand over his mouth and tried to asses the whole situation. He remembered Cody saying that he had a crush on someone and was too scared to do anything about it….then he remembered himself saying Cody should do something anyway….then Cody kissed him.

_Oh God, he likes ME_, Randy realized, finally fully comprehending the whole situation. This was not good. He knew how Cody got when it came to these things. He got all attached and stuff. That was just not something he could deal with. His motto was "get some get gone". No strings meant no complications. Getting attached to someone meant that they could they could fuck you over in the end. He knew that from personal experience and he never wanted to go through that in the end.

Still being as quiet as he could, he carefully pulled on some clothes and snuck out of there. He didn't know where exactly it was that he was going; all he knew was that he had to get out of there and get some air so he could try to think about what the hell to do next.

"Well well well. Look what we have here."

Randy cringed. He had only gotten halfway down the hall before he had been spotted. _Damn it, why does it have to be him?_ he asked himself as he turned around. "What do you want?" he asked, trying to sneer and be as nasty as he could.

Hunter just chuckled. "Don't be rude Randy. You don't want me to have to teach you a lesson in manners now do you?"

Randy clenched his fists down at his sides and tried to restrain himself from punching the bastard right in his big nose. Once upon a time, back in the days of Evolution, he and Hunter had been an item. To him, it was a very big deal at the time because Hunter was the first guy he had ever been with. Little did he know that it had all been an elaborate game Hunter had made up just to entertain himself. Once the Cerebral Assassin had gotten bored of him, he had been thrown to the curb like yesterday's trash. "Fuck off Hunter," he growled.

Hunter smirked. "Oooh, someone's brave isn't he?" Before Randy could respond, Hunter had him pushed up against the wall and was holding him there. "What the fuck are you doing?" Randy asked, his heart skipping a beat when he couldn't push the blonde man away. "Let me go!"

Hunter shook his head. "You better fucking watch your mouth Orton. I'm not in the fucking mood for it."

Randy scowled. He didn't know what the hell had gotten up Hunter's ass but he wished it would get the hell out of there.

Hunter glared at him a little bit before letting go and walking away. Randy waited until he was completely out of sight before letting his legs give out on him and sliding down to the floor. "Fuck," he cursed, banging his head against the wall and scolding himself for letting Hunter get to him like that. He was over him. He really was.

At least that's what he told himself anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

"Damn it I'm so stupid," Cody muttered as he quickly put his clothes on. "So fucking stupid!" He had woken up to find Randy gone, which was exactly what he had been afraid of. Damn it, why had he let everything get so out of hand? Why hadn't he been able to control himself? He wasn't the drunk one last night. He could have resisted his stupid urges and saved himself from this embarrassing and hurtful situation that he was currently in.

After he was dressed, he hung around Randy's room a little bit, hoping the older man would come back. His stuff was still in there so he was going to have to come back for it. But the longer he hung around, the more he began to think about what had happened the previous night. Sex with Randy had been better than he had imagined, which made his current situation that much harder to deal with. Finally he just had to leave the room, unable to take it anymore. He started the lonely walk back to his own room, sighing when he found Ted pounding on his door like there was no tomorrow.

"Cody open the door!" Ted whined, pouting because he probably thought he was getting ignored. "This is getting ridiculous! Have you gone deaf or something?"

"No I haven't actually," Cody said, trying to keep his voice as put together as he could.

Ted jumped about a foot in the air as he turned around. "Cody! You scared me!" He shook his head and started to keep up his scolding but then he stopped when he saw the look on Cody's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Cody lied.

Ted gave him a disbelieving look. "It doesn't look like nothing." He became really concerned when Cody's lower lip began to tremble. "Damn it Cody what happened? Did someone hurt you? Because I'll kill them if they did!"

"I…I slept with Randy last night," Cody admitted.

Ted looked shocked as hell at that announcement. "You did?"

Cody nodded. "And he was gone when I woke up."

Ted groaned and shook his head. "Are you serious? Fuck! He's such a fucking…no, this will not do." He grabbed Cody by the hand and began pulling him along. "This will not do at all."

"Uh….Ted? What do you think you're doing?"

"We're going to find Randy."

Cody's eyes widened and he began dragging his feet. "No come on, that's not a good idea," he objected. "You know how he is. This isn't--"

"He can't just use you and leave!" Ted said angrily. "Not with the way you feel damn it. He owes you so much more than that."

Cody wanted to keep protesting but Ted was much too strong for him. Finally sighing in defeat, he allowed himself to get pulled along, praying that if they managed to find Randy, he would be able to somehow keep himself together.

The next ten minutes produced no results (unless you counted Ted randomly kicking Miz just for the hell of it) and Cody was just about to suggest that they just give up when they finally found Randy near the elevators. "Oh God," he moaned, already knowing that this was going to end badly.

"Randy!" Ted said, making the Legend Killer turn around and face them.

Randy swallowed heavily and tried to act casual, but Cody knew that something was wrong. He looked pretty shaken up, which more often than not meant that he had some sort of run in with Hunter. _God I fucking hate Hunter_, Cody thought unhappily. Hunter was the source of Randy's relationship issues. If it hadn't been for Hunter's cruel need to play mind games with Randy, Cody figured he probably would have had a chance with him.

"You and Cody need to talk," Ted said, letting go of Cody and shoving him towards Randy. "And don't say you don't, because he already told me what happened." He gave them both a look that said he would put his foot up their asses if they tried to fight him about the talking thing before backing off and letting them have their privacy. Cody immediately looked down at his feet, almost positive about what was going to come out of Randy's mouth very soon.

Randy let a sigh and shook his head. "Shit…" He was quiet for another moment before speaking again. "Last night was uh…not what I was expecting."

_Of course it wasn't. You're completely blind to the fact how much I love you._ Cody didn't dare say this out loud though. He didn't trust himself to speak at the moment.

Randy seemed to be put off by Cody's silence so he began babbling away. "I'm um…I sorry I took off this morning. I just…I can't do the whole morning after thing. It's just not me. I mean, you knew that beforehand…"

_I did, but I also know that the whole "can't" thing really just means that you're too much of a coward to stick around after the fuck. God forbid someone actually like you for more than sex_

"Cody please, can you say something right now?" Randy asked. "Or at least look at me?"

Cody shook his head stubbornly. He would lose it if he actually looked at Randy right now. He knew he would.

"Damn it Cody look at me!" Randy said, finally forcing the younger man to look him in the eyes. "Look…the way you feel…I just…I don't do that shit Cody. You know I don't."

"I know," Cody finally said, stepping away from Randy and shaking his head. "And that's why I'm such a fucking idiot. I was the sober one last night. I knew you would act this way afterwards and I still fucking…I still fucking let myself believe that maybe I would be different. Maybe I wasn't going to be the one got some and then got gone with…man I'm so fucking stupid."

Randy winced. "Cody you're not stupid. It's me alright? I'm the fucking problem here." He reached out to touch Cody but Cody just slapped his hand before taking off. Ted called out for him to stop while Randy didn't say anything. Biting down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, he just kept going forward, not caring about where exactly it was he was running to. As long as it was away, it was just fine with him.

…

Jeff sighed as he followed the others into the gym. Mark had decided to drag James here in order to force a distraction on him and Cooper and Connor had decided to come along too because…well Jeff didn't know why. Connor certainly didn't want to be there but Cooper was dragging him along anyway. What he did know for sure was that the car ride there had been very uncomfortable. James had been agitated and moody the entire time and it was really starting to affect everyone around him.

"You know what Daddy?" Connor said, bouncing up and down and giving his father an earnest look. "I think you should join the circus and Cooper thinks you should be a street fighter." He nodded as fast as he could, whipping his hair all over his face. "You would be less cranky then."

James snorted. "First of all, I hate the fucking circus. It smells like elephant shit and I want to punch all the clowns in the face. And second of all, the street fighter thing would be a great idea if you want me to start killing again. Because I will beat every mother fucker that comes my way to death."

"Well that's why you're here to use that punching bag over there," Mark said, pointing to the other side of the gym. The place was empty except for them and the employees because Mark knew the owners and got them to shut the place down to the public while they were there. "You have to get rid of some of this aggression Lawson."

"Oh bite me Marcus," James growled before stomping over there like a petulant child who wasn't getting his way.

"Oh God help us all," Mark muttered. He started to go after James but Jeff grabbed his arm and shook his head. "I'll go," he offered.

Mark looked really hesitant about that idea. "Jeff I'm not sure--"

"Just let me try," Jeff pleaded. "Please, I at least need to do that."

Mark sighed and reluctantly nodded. Jeff quickly kissed him on the cheek before walking over to James, who was already punching the shit out of the punching bag. "Want me to hold it for you?" Jeff offered. "You know, so it doesn't move on you?"

James shrugged. "You can if you want." He stopped punching it long enough so Jeff could grab on to it and then he started punching it again.

"Maybe you should tape up your hands first," Jeff suggested timidly, swearing he could feel every blow James was delivering to the bag. "You don't want to break something."

"No, you don't want me to break something," James countered. "You and Mark are just…ugh, can't anyone just fucking leave me alone anymore?" He started punching at the bag harder and faster and Jeff became convinced he was trying to break his hands on purpose or something. "I swear, you two are really getting on my nerves."

"We're just worried about you," Jeff said in a quiet voice. "We want to help--"

"Help? What a fucking joke." James stopped with the punching and shook his head. "Look at me Jeff. Do I fucking look like someone that can be helped?"

"Yes," Jeff said without hesitation.

James rolled his eyes. "I should have known you would say that." He looked at the others, who were all trying to act like they weren't watching him and Jeff. "They don't get it," he said. He looked back at Jeff. "_You_ don't get it."

"Get what?" Jeff asked. "James please, don't be cryptic and just say what you mean!"

"The whole killing thing…it wasn't something I did. It was me. It was my whole fucking existence. Take that away and I'm nothing."

Jeff shook his head stubbornly. "You're not nothing." He let go of the punching bag and tried to reach out to James. "Okay? You're not nothing without it. You--"

James flinched when he was almost touched. "That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who's losing his mind." He looked over at the giant mirror that was on the wall, scowling at his own reflection. Jeff looked at Mark, who was starting to make his way over there. Before either of them could do anything though, James had picked up a dumbbell and tossed it at the mirror, causing it to shatter into hundreds of little pieces.

"Holy shit!" Cooper yelled as Connor cackled like a maniac.

James just sneered at the broken glass before taking a deep breath and going back to a completely expressionless face. "I'll be in the car," he announced before storming out.

"Well that was fun," Cooper said as soon as James was out the door. "It's nice to see the monster this little relationship has created." He made sure to look right at Jeff as he said that.

"Don't start that shit boy," Mark growled, noticing the way Jeff violently flinched at those words.

Cooper just flipped Mark off before taking Connor and storming out. Mark shook his head and wrapped his arms around Jeff, who quickly buried his face into the larger man's chest. "We're losing him," he said unhappily.

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "I know." He kissed the top of Jeff's head. "But we're going to get him back. I swear on my fucking life we will."

"How?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know. But if there's a will there's a way, and believe me, I've got a lot of fucking will."

Jeff nodded, praying that Mark was right about that.


	6. Chapter 6

Randy winced as he was glared at by everyone in the room. He had arrived at the arena only to be grabbed and dragged into a room where Phil, Jay, Mark and Glenn were waiting to ambush him with the guilt trip. "Can you please just go ahead and get it over with already?" he asked, kind of fearing for his life at the moment. He knew what this was going to be about and he was not looking forward to facing the music.

"How could you do that to Cody?" Jay asked, rolling up a newspaper and then bashing it over Randy's head. "Tell me! How could you do that you son of a--"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Phil said, pulling Jay back. He was playing "good cop" to Captain Charisma's "bad cop". "Let's just cool down there buddy. We--"

"I don't want to calm down!" Jay yelled, shoving Phil away. "I want answers damn it!" He grabbed Randy by the shirt and started beating the Viper even harder with the newspaper. "How could you do that to Cody?" he yelled. "Huh? How! He's your friend!"

"I know damn it!" Randy said, snatching the newspaper out of Jay's hand and then kicking him away. "Do you think I'm not aware of how badly I screwed up?"

"No," Glenn said honestly. "You tend to have your head up your ass more often than not. Seriously, how did you NOT know that Cody was in love with you?"

Randy looked down at his feet. "He never said--"

"But it was so _obvious_!" Jay moaned unhappily. He tried to reach out to smack Randy again but Phil held him back. "Good God man, he's been pining over you ever since he came to the WWE. Even Kelly Kelly figured it out and she's dumber than a post!"

Randy stared at him incredulously. "Smelly Kelly figured it out before me?" Now he felt extremely stupid.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Now that is just a stupid nickname. She's stupid, not smelly."

"Yeah but calling her smelly is catchy," Jay said with a chuckle. The chuckle ended a few seconds later though, when he remembered that there was still important business to tend to. "You broke his heart Orton. You fucked him and then took that icky red organ and smashed it with a sledgehammer and ran over it with a car--"

"I get the point Jay," Randy snapped, flinching when he heard the word "sledgehammer". That word made him think about Hunter, which was the last thing he wanted to do. "I feel like a complete and total dick and I want to make things right…I _have_ to make things right." He looked at Mark, hoping that the Deadman could give him some sort of advice. If anyone could tell him how to make things right, it was Mark.

Unfortunately, Mark was not even paying attention to him. In fact, he wasn't even aware that anyone was even looking at him until Glenn elbowed him in the stomach. "What the hell was that for?" he asked unhappily.

"Your assistance is needed," Glenn replied, pointing to Randy.

"Oh." Mark looked Randy right in his eyes and shook his head. "You're fucked," he declared. "You're just as fucked as I am."

Randy blinked. That had not been what he had wanted to hear.

"Well jeez, that's really fucking negative," Jay said in disbelief. "What the hell is up your butt today?"

"James," Glenn said with a smirk. "Literally."

"No, not literally," Mark said with a sigh. "But James is the problem. He…he's losing it."

"Losing it in what sense?" Randy asked nervously. He had made sure to stay out of Lawson's way once he had found out what he and his sons really were. Just because Jeff loved him didn't mean he wanted anything to do with that shit.

Mark shook his head. "He just…he's not happy about the not killing thing. I'm handling it though."

Glenn frowned. "Do I need to--"

"No," Mark said immediately. "Just stay out of it. The less people involved, the better." He shook his head in disbelief. "Why are we focusing on my problems? I thought this was supposed to be about Randy."

"Aw come on, don't put this back on me," Randy whined. "I know I fucked up big time. Rubbing it in my face isn't going to change anything."

Phil sighed. "And as much as I hate to say this, you're right. Us bitching at you isn't going to change what you did. But it will get you to get your butt in gear and try to make things right."

"How though?" Randy asked. "He's been avoiding me for three days."

"Yeah well, you better figure out a way to get to him," Jay said firmly. "Or we're going to beat you like a two dollar ho."

Randy wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but he knew he didn't want to find out. _Now hopefully Cody will just talk to me…not that I blame him for not wanting to. I really fucked up this time._

…

"I don't want to see him," Cody said, trying to lace up his boots even though his fingers felt like lead. "I _can't_ see him. I just can't."

Ted sighed and rubbed his back. He had gathered up Mor, Evan and Jeff and the four of them were trying to comfort the distraught man. "I know you feel like that Codes. But you can't avoid him forever."

Cody was very aware of that, but he didn't want to even think about it. The thought of coming face to face with Randy again was absolutely terrifying.

"Do you want me to beat him up for you?" Mor offered. He sounded absolutely eager to do that for him.

Evan snorted. "What are you going to do, beat him with your blow dryer?"

"What if I did?" Mor asked defiantly. "Huh? What if I did? What would you do then?"

"Laugh at your stupidity," Evan replied, easily jumping up and catching Mor in a headlock as the Shaman of Sexy rushed at him. Cody wanted to laugh as they began wrestling around. There was always entertainment value in Mor and Evan beating the crap out of each other. But today it hurt too much to even think about smiling, so he didn't even attempt to do it.

Jeff sighed and sat down on the other side of Cody so he could hug him tightly. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I really am."

"Thanks," Cody said. The apology didn't really make him feel better but at least Jeff cared.

Ted finally stopped rubbing Cody's back and made him look at him. "You and I need to go out tonight. I can't let you mope anymore. It's not healthy for you." He quickly put his hand over Cody's mouth when he started to object. "I'm not saying we need to find you someone else. I'm just saying that you need to try to take your mind off of this."

Cody sighed. He wanted to keep arguing but he knew it would be absolutely pointless. Ted was harder than hell to argue with. "Do I have to have fun?" he asked when Ted moved his hand away.

"If you really don't want to," Ted said reluctantly.

"Okay. Then I guess I'll go."

…

"Baby you can't seriously be thinking about going and talking to my family," John said as he watched Shawn try to get ready for his match. He had just been made aware of HBK's plans and he was trying to talk the older man out of it. He appreciated the offer, but he didn't think it was necessary. "You don't need to get involved with my family drama."

"But I want to," Shawn said, turning around and putting his hands on his hips. "Besides, if I'm not going to talk to them, who will? You won't do it."

John sighed. "I know I won't, but that's because I know a lost cause when I see one."

Shawn rolled his eyes before straddling John's lap. "Getting your family to stop treating you like an outcast is not a lost cause. They're making you feel like shit and I'm not going to stand for it."

John smiled softly. "You're too good for me." He really meant that too.

Shawn smirked. "I know. But you're stuck with me so…" He kissed John lightly, deepening it when John responded eagerly. They made out on the bench for several minutes, and then Shawn wrapped his legs around John's waist and that was all it took for the champ to move and lay his lover down on the floor.

"I should lock the door," John said as he undressed the both of them.

Shawn shook his head. "No," he said. "Don't get up. I need you to keep touching me."

John couldn't deny that request. He quickly got rid of the rest of their clothes before he began kissing his way down Shawn's body, exploring it like he had never touched it before. Shawn let him get down to his stomach before bucking his hips up and making them roll over so he was on top. "We've got to move fast," he said, moving himself so that they were in the 69 position. "My match is coming up real soon."

John groaned as he felt Shawn take his entire length into his mouth at once. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Shawn's very talented mouth until Shawn began digging his nails into his thigh. "Alright alright," he said with a strained chuckle. It was getting really hard not to just thrust up like there was no tomorrow. He licked his lips before putting two fingers in his mouth and getting them nice and wet. Once he was satisfied that they were sufficiently lubricated, he slipped them inside of Shawn while teasing the blonde's shaft with his tongue.

"Oh fuck," Shawn groaned, moving back against John's fingers. "Don't tease…"

John chuckled before deep throating Shawn expertly, making Shawn moan loudly. He knew he should try to get his lover to quiet down, especially since the door wasn't locked. But he was so turned on by Shawn's moaning and writhing that he just continued to suck and finger his baby harder, doing all the things he knew he enjoyed.

"Mmmhhhh fuck!" Shawn gasped, trying to go back to sucking John but too distracted to really do so. "Baby fuck me please…

"You sure that's what you want?" John asked, probing Shawn's prostate with his fingers.

Shawn nodded desperately. "Yes! Please, I need it so bad."

"Well what my baby wants…" John didn't get to finish his sentence. Shawn slipped away from him and then straddled his waist, sitting down on his thick cock at the same time he started thrusting upwards.

"John!" Shawn cried out, closing his eyes and whimpering loudly.

John groaned, grabbing a hold of Shawn's hips and thrusting upwards slowly. "So tight," he groaned, watching Shawn's face and loving the look of pleasure on it. "So hot for me…"

"Just you," Shawn agreed, starting to move his hips in time with John's thrusts. John took that as a signal to start thrusting faster, which he did. Shawn whimpered and leaned forward to kiss John hungrily, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. John growled and forced Shawn to start riding him harder, which just reduced Shawn to a moaning and writhing mess.

"John please," Shawn whimpered. "Fuck, please, I'm so close…"

Without saying a word, John grabbed a hold of Shawn's cock and started stroking it roughly. "Cum for me baby," he gasped, already feeling Shawn's walls tightening around his cock. "Cum…with me…"

Shawn keened loudly as he sprayed his release all over John's chest and stomach, and just seconds later John came deep inside his fiancé, filling him to the point that he was sure that some was going to leak out when they got up.

The door suddenly opened, taking them both by surprise. "Damn it Shawn, our match is--" Hunter froze when he saw the position Shawn and John were in. At first he looked shocked but then it was quickly replaced with a look that was mixed of hurt, envy and anger. John winced, knowing that the Game still had feelings for Shawn, even though their relationship had ended years ago because of Hunter's need to control and manipulate his lovers.

"Uh…hi," Shawn said awkwardly. "I'll be ready in a minute."

Hunter just grunted before storming out.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Great." He smiled at John and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," John said. "Be careful out there with him, okay?"

Shawn nodded. "Don't worry, I will."


	7. Chapter 7

"Can someone please tell me why we're listening to Taylor Swift?" Adam asked, watching as Gail painted his nails black. This was really more of Jeff's thing but she had absolutely insisted on doing it to him.

"Because it's on the radio," Natalya answered. "Now be quiet. Your hair is almost done."

Adam sighed and shook his head. Nattie was putting black streaks in his hair so it would match his hair. He had tried to protest this, but he had been overruled, so that had put an end to his argument.

"Come on Adam, don't make that face," Tiffany said, cheerfully trying on her new wrestling gear. As soon as she found out he was gay, she figured there was no reason to be modest around him. It wasn't like he was going to be looking at any of her bits anyway. "You'll look hot with black streaks."

"You think so?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as Kelly and the Bellas chattered loudly about absolutely nothing worth remembering.

"Of course," Tiffany assured him. She examined herself in the mirror before turning to face the others. "How do I look?"

"Like a cheerleader who got dressed in the dark," Natalya said without hesitation. "Seriously, what is up with that purple top?"

"I like it," Tiffany said defiantly.

"Well I guess that's all it matters, isn't it?" Gail said, barely looking up from Adam's nails.

"I think so," Tiffany confirmed, sitting down and watching as the finishing touches on Adam. "So is it true?"

"Is what true?" Adam asked.

"The whole Randy/Cody thing."

"Yeah, unfortunately," Adam said with a sigh.

"Poor Cody," Natalya said sadly. She scowled and shook her head. "I need to beat up Randy for him."

Adam frowned. "There wouldn't be anything left of him if we let you at him."

"And your point is?" Obviously she did not see the bad side to that.

"Done!" Gail said happily, putting the lid back on to the nail polish. "Now keep your hands still so they can dry all the way. You smudge the paint and I'll smudge your face."

Adam blinked, not sure how to take that. "You'll smudge my face? What kind of threat is that?"

"A deadly one," Gail replied, playfully punching his shoulder. "Now keep still."

Adam rolled his eyes and started began waiting for his nails to dry and the finishing touches to be put on his hair. "Oh Nattie, I should probably warn you that Jeff is going to try and tape you and Tyson having sex in the near future. He's convinced that you wear a strap-on and actually fuck your little boy toy."

Tiffany's eyes just about popped out of her head. "What?"

Gail groaned. "I really did not need to hear that."

Natalya smirked. "Well at least he's got it right this time."

Adam gasped. "Oh my God, you really do that?"

"I have to. My boyfriend's the bitch." Natalya patted Adam on the shoulder. "You're done. Go take a look cutie."

Adam blinked and looked, barely taking notice to his new look because he was too busy trying to wrap his head around the mental pictures he now had in his head. "I…I don't know what to say. Does David--"

"My whole family knows," Natalya confirmed, barely hiding her smirk. "They just choose not to say anything about it."

"I don't blame them," Gail commented. "I wouldn't--"

"Candice!" Kelly squealed, almost tackling the pregnant woman as she came into the room.

"Kelly be careful!" Melina scolded. "You can't--"

"It's okay," Candice said, hugging Kelly back. "She didn't hurt me."

"Anorexic Barbie can't hurt anyone," Natalya whispered to Adam.

Adam nodded, his eyes going straight to Candice's stomach. He had never really paid any attention to her while she had been working in the company, but now here she was, standing right in front of him, practically glowing because of her pregnancy.

"Hi Adam!" she said cheerfully, her nasal voice not even bothering him this time. That was how distracted he was. "I love your new look."

"Thanks," he said, not taking his eyes off her stomach. He was so beyond jealous at the moment that "thanks" was the only word he could say to her face.

Gail grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the corner of the locker room. "Did you talk to Matt again about…you know…"

Adam shook his head. "What would be the point? He'll just make the same points that he did before and he'll be right, once again."

Tiffany made a pouty face. "Poor Addy." She hugged him tightly. "Is there anything we can do to make you feel better?"

Adam shrugged. "Not really but uh…could you try by annoying him for my entertainment?"

Tiffany and Gail exchanged mischievous looks while Natalya laughed evilly. "Your wish is our command Copeland," the third generation diva promised eagerly.

…

James paced back and forth across the hotel room, feeling more and more like a caged animal by the second. The room felt way too small and his chest was starting to tighten up on him, making it extremely hard for him to breathe. Every molecule in his body, every ounce of his being was SCREAMING for blood. It was driving him completely and utterly insane. "Can't take it," he muttered, trying to keep his hands clenched but they were shaking too bad for him to do that. "Can't do it no more. Tried and I can't. Can't can't can't can't…"

"Daddy be quiet!" Connor ordered, giving him a very annoyed look. He was waiting for Cooper to come back with his candy and he did not appreciate James getting in his view of the television. "And sit down! Scooby Doo is on and you're being too noisy.

James growled, startling Connor. He was at the point where the sound of his own sons' voices were driving him nuts. "Fuck Scooby Doo," he snarled.

"Daddy you can't fuck Scooby Doo," Connor said, still confused about why he was growled at. "He's a cartoon you dummy." He clapped his hands together excitedly as Cooper came back into the room. "Candy! Give me candy!"

Cooper rolled his eyes and tossed Connor his candy. Connor caught it and that was then his face fell. "Coopy! I told you peanut M&M's!"

"They didn't have any," Cooper said as he sat down. "They only had the regular ones."

"But I don't want the regular ones!" Connor was in full whine mode now. "I want the peanut ones!" He looked at James for support. "Daddy tell him!"

James shook his head. "Just eat your candy Connor."

"But Daddy--"

"Damn it Connor SHUT UP!" James finally roared. "I don't want to fucking hear it!"

Connor's jaw dropped and that was the final straw for Cooper. James fully expected to get hit for screaming at Connor, but instead Cooper grabbed his knife and began ushering told them towards the door. "We're going," he announced.

"Going where?" James asked.

"Hunting," Cooper replied. "This isn't working. You tried but you can't cope like this and I'm not putting up with you being a dick anymore. You need to kill again before you fucking murder all of us!"

James nodded, not able to fight it anymore. He loved Mark and Jeff; he really did. But he made a promise he shouldn't have. Promising not to kill? No, that wasn't possible. Not for him. Not when it was like breathing. "My knife…" he said softly, feeling even more lost without it now.

"I gots it Daddy," Connor said, going over to his bag and getting it out. He handed it over to James and then stepped back so he could hide behind Cooper.

James gripped the knife tightly, indescribably happy to have it back in his possession. _Thirty seven days, nineteen hours, forty six minutes and twelve seconds…_ He shook his head. It had felt like it had been longer than that since he had made that stupid promise. "Let's go," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "Right now."

It was time for him to become a killer again.


	8. Chapter 8

"Fuck," Mark cursed, limping into the room and sitting down on the bench. "Fuck fuck fuck!" He took several deep breaths, the throbbing in his knees and hips so bad that he felt like he was about to throw up at any second. "Jeff?" he called out, so consumed by his pain that he couldn't even see his lover.

"I'm here," Jeff assured him, wrapping his arms around Mark and hugging him tightly. "I'm right here baby."

"Pills," Mark said, waving his hand in the general direction that his bag was in. "Get me my pills."

"Okay," Jeff said. He let go of Mark and hurried over to the bag, grabbing the pain killers Mark had in there and bringing them over to their owner. "Here, take them with this," he said," grabbing his bottle of Mountain Dew and handing that over too.

Mark quickly chased three pills down with the drink, not caring that his prescription wasn't all the way cleared with the Wellness Policy people yet. If he didn't get relief soon, he was going to be tempted to blow his own brains out just to escape the pain. "Fuck me," he muttered, panting for breath after he had swallowed the pills.

Jeff winced and sat down next to Mark. "You should let the trainer look you over," he suggested timidly.

Mark just shook his head. "What would be the point? There's nothing that he can do for me. My body's giving out on me." It pained him to admit it, but it was the truth. He had come back too soon from his latest knee surgery because Vince had said he was needed and now he was paying for it big time. If this was the kind of pain he was in after wrestling on TV for just ten minutes, he hated to think how he was going to feel a few weeks down the line.

Jeff kissed his cheek softly. "You need to tell McMahon that you need to go back to your sabbatical," he said gently. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. Something's going to blow out completely if you're not careful."

"I know." Mark carefully laid himself down and rested his head on Jeff's lap. He knew that he needed to change out of his ring gear so they could go back to the hotel and check on James and the boys, but it felt nice just to lay there because it was so peaceful. Being around James had been anything but peaceful lately and Mark was really starting to think that he needed to talk to Jeff about James killing again. This whole getting him to stop thing…it was a disaster basically. Sure it had seemed necessary given the fact that Matt seemed to be eager as hell to turn James into the cops, but James was turning into a rabid animal without his kills. That was undeniable.

"Mark?" Jeff said suddenly, gently running his fingers through Mark's hair.

"Yeah?" Mark said, grabbing Jeff's hand and lightly kissing it.

"I tried calling James when you were out wrestling and I didn't get an answer." Jeff sounded really apprehensive now. "That's not a good sign, is it?"

Mark almost lied just to try to put Jeff at ease. Over the years he had learned that the people he worked with tended to freak out about shit so it was easier to lie and deal with the shit himself. But in the end, he ended up nodding because he could not bring himself to insult Jeff's intelligence by lying. "Yeah, it's not good."

"That's what I thought." Jeff sighed and leaned down so he could kiss Mark's forehead. "We should go looking for him."

Mark nodded, even though he much rather lay down and sleep until the pain was gone. "Yeah. We really should."

…

James moved through the empty streets, keeping to the shadows that had hid him for his entire life. He was aware that he was moving faster than even Cooper and Connor could keep up with, but he really did not care. His knife was once again in his possession and he was on the hunt. It had been so long…way way too long. It had been so long that almost every part of his mind had shut down. The only part still active was the most basic, primal part of him. _Victims…itty bitty victims…where are you? Come out come out wherever you are…._ He turned into a dark alley and started walking up it, stopping when he heard a bottle drop on the cement. _Here we go…_

About five feet in front of him was a blind homeless man who was staring right at him from inside the giant TV box that was serving as his shelter for the night. James got down to his knees and stared at the man, staring at him for the longest time before he began to chuckle madly.

"Who's there?" the man asked, his useless eyes staring holes right through James. He reached out and began trying to make contact. "I know you're there…I'm not stupid."

James chuckled more, not really knowing what the fuck it was that he found so funny. "No…I guess you're not." He pulled his knife out from his pocket and jammed it right into the man's gut, ignoring the fact that a small scream came from the guy's mouth just seconds later. He was too focused on the blood rushing out of the wound, covering his hand and triggering a rage that he hadn't felt in years. He yanked the knife out before grabbing the man by the ankle and dragging him out of the box so he could have free reign to stab his victim where ever he wanted.

"I don't think you'll be needing these anymore," he said with a smirk, driving his blade into the each of the man's eye sockets. "I don't see why you didn't just get rid of them earlier…it wasn't like they were useful." He took what was left of the eyeballs and put them into the pocket on his shirt before taking his knife and using it to split the guy open from his throat to his belly button, actually sticking his hand into the corpse and touching the still warm organs inside.

"Oh my God!" Cooper groaned as he and Connor finally caught up with James. "Dad…Jesus _Christ_ what the fuck are you doing?"

"Nothing," James said innocently. He pulled his hand off and examined the blood that was on it. It was all warm and gooey…he needed more of it.

"Daddy where are you going?" Connor asked as James got up and started walking away.

"Hunting," James replied without looking back.

"But what about…you know?" Cooper did not sound pleased that he and Connor were being left to clean up the mess.

James ignored that question and kept walking. He knew Cooper and Connor would be good boys and take care of the mess for him. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hunt to go," he sang softly under his breath. "Hi ho hi ho hi-" He began to laugh giddily when he saw another homeless person not too far away from him. _Yeah baby, I'm fucking back in business._

…

Cody threw back another shot, coughing as the alcohol burned his throat. He had lost track of how much he had drank so far. That was alright though. Counting was for losers. Take Evan for example. He had been drinking with him and Ted for a little bit but then decided that he better stop before he got too wasted. Fucking little pussy was what he was. _Oh well, more for me_, Cody thought as he grabbed the bottle of whiskey and started drinking right out of it.

Ted blinked at him several times, slowly shaking his head. "Jesus Christ Code Man. Slow down a little bit."

Cody took three large gulps of the whiskey before slamming the bottle down on to the table. "It's not fair Teddy," he complained. "I love him. I love him so much."

"I know you do," Ted said, moving his chair that he could sit right next to Cody. "I know."

"No, you don't know," Cody said defiantly, the alcohol causing anger and petulance. "Nobody knows. Everyone says "Oh I understand" but then they tell me to get over it barely two minutes later. And I wish it WAS that easy. I'd be happy as a pig in shit if it was that easy. But it's not! It's not and you can't keep telling me to get over because it HURTS right in here!" He started smacking his chest to emphasize his point. "That's where it hurts and it hurts bad Teddy."

Ted let out a long sigh. He obviously didn't know what the hell to do to make things better for Cody. "Look, I-"

"Son of a bitch," Cody cursed, turning out Ted completely. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When he confirmed that it was Hunter that was walking into the bar, he got out of his chair and began making his way over to the blonde man. In his mind, Randy hurting him was Hunter's fault. Hunter had emotionally damaged Randy so badly that it seemed that he was beyond repair. If Hunter hadn't felt the need to be such a fucking jackass, this whole mess could have been avoided. "You!" he called out, barely avoiding Ted's attempts to grab him and reel him in. "Hunter!"

"Oh Jesus," Hunter muttered under his breath. He gave Cody an annoyed look. "What do you want Rhodes?"

"You…" Cody tried desperately to think of something mean and witty to say. "….are stupid."

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Riiiiiight." He shook his head, clearly not amused by this. "Look Rhodes, whatever it is, it's going to have to wait. I am NOT in the mood to-"

"I dun care," Cody slurred out defiantly. He began pushing Hunter as hard as he could, barely making the larger man flinch while almost falling on his own ass. "You are mean and not nice and…fucking jackass is what you are. You fucking broke Randy and now he broke me and it's all your fault."

"Cody come on," Ted said, doing his best to pull Cody out of the situation.

Cody elbowed Ted in the ribs before getting right into Hunter's face. "You'z a jerk face," he declared before slapping the taste of Hunter's mouth. Delivering the blow felt really good, but what happened next didn't. One minute everything was fine and the next minute a large fist was hitting his jaw, dropping him right down to the floor and making him see stars. _….Owie….that hurted really bad…._


	9. Chapter 9

Randy entered the bar, hoping that besides from heading back to his hotel room, this could be his last stop for the night. He had been searching for Cody ever since his match, but so far he hadn't had any luck finding him. It was frustrating as hell. How was he supposed to apologize for being a douche bag when the person he needed to say the words to was avoiding him? Not that he really blamed Cody…he knew what it was like to be hurt by someone that you loved. It was why he felt so angry with himself for this whole mess. He never had wanted anyone besides Hunter to hurt that way, especially someone he was so close to. _I'm a fucking idiot_, he thought unhappily as he began looking around the dark, dingy place. _I'm a stupid fucking idiot who's probably ruined shit with Cody forever. How the fuck is supposed to forgive me for this?_

He started to sit down at an empty table so he could think about this question and keep an eye out for Cody when a loud commotion caught his attention. "Out of the way people!" he heard Ted shout. "Move it! Nothing to see here! Hey! Get out of my way asshole!"

Randy shook his head and began making his way through the crowd. He could see that Ted was pushing people out of the way, but he didn't see that Cody was being dragged along until Ted was almost by the door. "Ted!" he yelled, not pleased to see that Cody had a large bruise forming on the side of his jaw. "What happened?"

Ted froze when he heard his voice. "Shit," he muttered.

Cody looked at Randy with glazed over eyes and shook his head. "Codykins and Teddy Bear are not home right now," he slurred out, trying to break away from Ted and nearly falling on his own face in the process. "Please leave a message after the beep….BEEP!"

Randy sighed. Cody was completely and totally drunk. That was just lovely. "What's going on?" he asked impatiently. "What happened to his face?"

Ted looked away nervously. "Nothing…"

"Come on Ted, don't bullshit me." Randy was in no mood to play this game. "Did someone hit him?"

"…Yeah…" Ted admitted, still refusing to look Randy in the eyes.

Randy clenched his mouth shut and shook his head. He did not like hearing that at all. "Who?" he asked, trying (and failing) to keep the venomous anger out of his voice.

Ted shook his head. "Come on Randy, it's not important. Let's just go."

"It's important if I say it's important," Randy snapped. He took Cody off of Ted's hands and made the younger man look him in the eyes. "Code Man?"

"You hurted me Randy," Cody pouted drunkenly. He started slapping at his own chest, probably trying to indicate that it was his heart that was hurting. "In here? See? My hearts all gone and you stomped on it."

Randy sighed and pressed his forehead against Cody's. "I'm sorry," he said, knowing he would have to say it again in the morning because there was no way Rhodes was remembering any of this in the morning. "I really am. I want to make things right with you…now can you tell me who hit you?"

"Hunter," Cody tattled. "I told him what a meanie he was and he hit me."

Randy scowled at that answer. Hunter. It was always Hunter. "God damn it," he growled unhappily. He handed Cody back to Ted. "Get him out of here, okay?"

"What are you going to do?" Ted asked as he pulled Cody back into his arms.

Randy didn't answer that question. He just walked away and went over to Hunter, who was having the bartender pour him another drink. "What do you want Orton?" The Game asked without even looking up.

"You're a fucking asshole," Randy growled, knocking the drink out of Hunter's hand so he could get his ex's full attention.

Hunter looked at his now empty hand before glaring at Randy. "Was that actually necessary?" he asked in exasperation. "I mean really-"

"Yeah, it was necessary," Randy snapped. He clenched his fists tightly and fought to keep them down by his waist. "You're a fucking asshole, you know that?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Yeah, I know." He got off his stool and shook his head. "Look, if you're going to give me the same shit that Rhodes did earlier, save your breath and go run off with your little boyfriend. I've had a shitty fucking night and I would like to be by myself at the moment."

"Aw, what's wrong Hunter? Are you pining over the man who will never love you again?" Randy was referring to Shawn of course. Even though he had tried to turn a blind eye to it when they had been together, he had known all along that Hunter had some very strong feelings for Shawn. It was not only painfully obvious, but it was kind of scary, given the fact that Hunter tended to get extremely angry when he didn't get what he wanted.

Hunter scowled angrily. "Fuck you Orton. You shouldn't be talking shit about anyone. You're still the same pathetic slut whining about how I broke your heart and all that shit. It's been what-five, six years now? Why don't you grow up and get over it?" He put his hands on Randy's chest and shoved him back. "Stupid bitch."

"Don't you fucking touch me," Randy growled, shoving Hunter back. "And you keep your fucking hands away from Cody too, you got me? If I even think you hit him again-"

"You'll do what exactly?" Hunter asked, an evil smirk appearing on his face. "Huh? Come on, tell me what you would do if my uh…_fist_ happened to somehow make contact with him again."

Randy did not like the connotation of that sentence at all. There was a good chance that Hunter was just talking to mind fuck him, but then again, given Hunter's track record, it was possible that it meant more than that. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, kneeing Hunter in the groin before punching him right in his nose. He got a grim kind of satisfaction when he felt the bone break on impact and it kind of made him wish he had done that years ago. "You keep ALL of your parts away from Cody, you hear me?" he asked angrily. He kicked Hunter in the ribs while he was down before turning around and storming out of the bar.

"Come on, let it out," Ted encouraged Cody. He was holding the darker haired man up as he puked his brains out in the grass. "That's it…" He looked up at Randy as he approached them. "How did it go?"

"I broke his nose," Randy replied. He grabbed on to Cody and rubbed his back as he continued to puke.

Ted shook his head and sighed. "You're going to get in major trouble for that. Hunter usually has Vince in his back pocket you know."

Randy knew that but he honestly did not care at the moment. What he cared about was taking care of Cody, who was now passing out in his arms. "Come on," he said as he carefully picked up Cody. "Let's get him back at the hotel and let him rest."

…

Matt sighed and tried to pay attention to the movie. At John's insistence they were all watching Rambo, but he found it very hard to care about the damn movie at all. Adam was spending the night with Natalya, Gail and Tiffany and he couldn't help but feel like Adam was mad at him and trying to avoid him. Adam hadn't really said anything to him but Matt could feel it. And it bothered him a lot.

"Is this movie over yet?" Mor asked impatiently. He and Evan were playing cards while everyone else was watching the movie. "I'm bored!"

"Shush you!" John scolded. "This is the good part!"

Shawn chuckled and scooted over to sit closer to Matt. "He says that about every part of this movie," he whispered.

Matt smiled weakly. That wasn't very surprising.

Shawn frowned when he noticed Matt's reaction. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You look upset."

Matt sighed and shook his head. "It's nothing."

That didn't fool Shawn at all. Before Matt could stop him, Shawn had him by the hand and was dragging him into the bathroom so they could have a private conversation. "Nothing huh?" Shawn said with raised eyebrows. "People don't look like they got their puppy kicked over nothing. Now can you just tell me or will I have to torture the information out of you?"

"Torture?" Matt was almost morbidly curious to find out how Shawn planned to do that.

Shawn shook his head. "Believe me, you don't want to know." He folded his arms over his chest and began tapping his foot. "Now talk."

Matt didn't really want to but he realized that he probably wasn't going to get a choice in the matter. "I think Adam's mad at me because he wants a baby and I don't," he confessed.

Shawn blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, I thought we sorted it out but the way he wouldn't talk to me before he went to the girls…"

"Are you sure that's what he's mad about?" Shawn asked.

"It's the only thing that I can think of," Matt said with a shrug. "Besides, you know Adam. When he gets set on something, he REALLY gets set on it."

"Yeah I know," Shawn admitted. He rubbed his hands together and gave Matt a serious look. "You know what you need to do?"

"What?"

"Get one of those fake babies they use in the schools and give it to Adam. It's the test drive for the whole baby experience."

Matt blinked. Why hadn't he thought of that?

Shawn grinned and patted Matt on the shoulder. "Believe me, either you or Adam will be changing your tunes when it's all said and done."

Matt grinned. "That's a great idea." He hugged Shawn tightly. "Thanks man."

"Any time man."

"Hey!" Jay yelled from the other room. "You two quit humping each other in there and get your asses back out here! John won't unpause the movie unless you two are watching!"

Matt rolled his eyes. "We're not humping each other you idiot!"

"Yeah!" Shawn agreed. "I would not hump Matt unless John and I bring him and Adam in for a foursome!" He gave Matt a big grin. "Speaking of which….would you like a foursome some time?"

Matt blinked, completely taken aback by the offer. "I um…I'll talk to Adam about it." That was all he could think to say at the moment.

"Good." Shawn kissed him on the cheek before happily leaving the room.

_Well,_ Matt thought as he followed him out. _That was…interesting._

…

Jeff sighed as he Mark drove him and Glenn around time. They were looking for James and so far it wasn't going so well. "Where the hell could he be?" Jeff asked anxiously. He looked back and forth between Mark and Glenn, feeling completely and totally helpless. "Where would he go? What-"

"Jeff, if we knew the answer to that, we would already be there," Glenn said irritably. "Do you think we would still be driving around like chickens with our heads cut off if we knew?"

"Hey, don't you fucking snap at him," Mark growled. "He didn't fucking do anything to you."

"I never said he did," Glenn replied, giving Jeff an apologetic look. "But YOUR guys' boyfriend is on a homicidal maniac who's on a killing spree at the moment. He "tried to change" because he felt pressured to and now look what happened. I bet you anything he's killed about-"

"Glenn that's enough!" Mark growled as Jeff turned a funny shade of pale. "Just shut-" He growled in frustration as the phone interrupted him. "Jeff, answer that and put it on speaker, alright?"

Jeff nodded wordlessly and did what he was told.

"Testing testing…one two three…anyone there?" Connor asked excitedly.

"Where's James?" Mark asked immediately.

"We don't fucking know," Cooper snapped. He could be heard struggling with Connor for the phone. "But it's bad Mark. He has snapped and we can't get him to stop."

"How bad is it?" Jeff asked quietly.

"Yeah, what's the body count?" Glenn chimed in. "Five, six-"

"We just disposed of the seventeenth body two minutes ago."

Mark literally almost wrecked the car right at that moment. "SEVENTEEN?" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "SEVENTEEN?"

"And counting," Cooper confirmed. "He's getting reckless and we can't reel him in. You need to drop Jeff off somewhere safe if you're going to be out here helping us look for him. We can't stop Dad and keep an eye on him too."

Jeff shook his head. His stomach was churning so bad that he felt like he was going to puke at any moment. "I have to help-"

"No," Mark refused. "Absolutely not."

"But-"

"NO Jeff. Not when he's like this."

"I have to though!" Jeff insisted. "You can't-"

"Jeff, I will tied you down somewhere if I have to," Mark threatened. "I really will."

"I'll get free," Jeff said childishly. He knew that this wasn't the time to argue, but he felt directly responsible for the mayhem James was causing and he needed to have some sort of part in stopping it.

Glenn touched his shoulder and shook his head. "Listen, just let us get James back in one piece, alright? Let us get him somewhat calmed down so any attempts of sorting everything out can actually _happen_, alright? James hasn't ever gone this long without killing before so there's no telling how far off the edge he is now. Just let us handle it until we're sure he's not killing everyone in sight, alright?"

Jeff looked away and closed his eyes. He knew that he was going to get left behind whether he liked it or not, so what was the point in even agreeing or disagreeing at this point? _I have to get to James though. I have to. Even if I can't stop him I at least have to try._


	10. Chapter 10

James took several deep breaths as he watched the sun come up, feeling not only extremely sticky because of the blood drying on him but also clear headed for the first time in what felt like forever. The murder spree he had just partaken in had been positively orgasmic (not that he had actually came during any of that; that would just be too weird even for him). He knew he had gone way WAY out of control because after the first couple of people, his memory of the killing spree got very very fuzzy. _Hopefully Cooper and Connor cleaned up after me or I'm probably going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble._

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He had about a dozen missed calls from Mark, Cooper, Glenn and Jeff. The sheer number of calls shocked him because that was how many times he hadn't even heard his own phone ring. For a moment he almost thought about calling all of them back but he decided that they could wait just a little bit longer. He had to at least get himself somewhat cleaned off. The longer he ran around covered in blood, the more likely it was that he was going to get in deep trouble.

Setting his phone down on a rock, he ventured out of the trees that were giving him cover and went into the lake that he was by. The water was absolutely freezing, but he tolerated it as best as he could so he could get himself somewhat cleaned up. "Holy shit balls," he muttered, his teeth chattering as hard as they could. "M-M-Major fucking shrinkage here." He finished up as fast as he could before getting out, shaking himself off like a big giant dog. He had traded stickiness for freezing his ass off and now he wasn't sure if that was such a great trade off. "M-Marky," James muttered, going back into the trees and grabbing his phone so he could dial Mark's phone number. "Need Marky…"

…

Mark was absolutely exhausted. After dropping Jeff and Glenn off at the hotel (he had _really _wanted to make sure Jeff wouldn't run off and try to find James on his own), he had met up with Cooper and Connor and had spent the rest of the night with them trying to hunt down James. They hadn't found him, but they had found the mess he had left behind. It was unlike anything Mark had ever seen before. Twenty nine bodies (that they had found) and there was a chance that James was still going strong.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Cooper muttered. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and glanced back at Connor, who had conked out in the backseat. "Dad should have never stopped killing. This entire thing was stupid and-"

"He offered," Mark said with a shrug. "He was the one-"

"-trying to appease Jeff," Cooper said with a snort. "And get Matt off his back."

Mark shook his head. "Let's not throw blame around right now, okay? It's not going to get us anywhere." Blaming Matt for being the moral person he was and ragging on Jeff for having second thoughts about accepting James's murderous ways was just going to be a waste of time. Right now they just had to find James and get him calmed down if he hadn't done it on his own. They could worry about Jeff and Matt later.

Mark felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he immediately stopped the car so he could dig it out and answer it. "Hello?"

"Marky?"

The relief that washed over Mark was indescribable. "James!" he said with a sigh. He ran free hand through his hair and shook his head. "Where the hell are you?"

"Uh…by a lake," James replied. "Other than that I'm not sure."

Mark frowned. "A lake?"

"Yeah. I thought it was a good idea to bathe in it to get this blood off me but now I'm freezing my fucking ass off."

Mark just shook his head, doing his best to keep Cooper from snatching the phone out of his hand. "Jesus Christ Lawson," he muttered under his breath. What else could he say? It wasn't like he could just go off about the carnage that had been caused last night because that would just set James off again. Lawson had never been one to respond to being scolded that well. Besides from that, he really couldn't yell at James without needing to take a verbal ass kicking himself. He should have never let shit get this far. He knew better than anyone what James was like and he should have taken James out to break his promise a lot sooner. A lot more people would still be alive if had done that. "Just stay there, okay? The boys and I are coming to get you."

"Where's Jeff?"

"I took him back to the hotel and made Glenn stay with him. I didn't want him getting hurt or seeing you when you're all…you know…"

"Yeah," James agreed. "Smart thinking Marky."

"Mmhmm. Now stay put, you hear me?"

"Yes! I heard you the first time."

"I just wanted to make sure-"

"I love you."

Mark blinked at the sudden declaration but he didn't hesitate to answer back to it. "Love you too Lawson. Here, talk to Cooper." He handed the phone over to the impatiently waiting Cooper before he began to drive again. He wasn't sure where the hell this lake was but he was going to find it one way or another. That was for damn sure.

…

Shawn let out a huge yawn before rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Too early," he mumbled unhappily. "It's too early Johnny. Let's go back to bed." He grabbed John by the hand and started trying to pull him back towards their room.

John however, refused to budge. "We can't go back baby. We have a flight to catch, remember?"

Shawn did remember but he was way too sleepy to be happy about it. "Stupid family should be happy for you," he muttered. He felt John's arms wrapping around him and he quickly fell right into the embrace. "That way you could be happy and I could be sleeping right now."

John sighed and kissed the top of Shawn's head. "Well we could always forget about doing this and just go back to bed-"

Shawn shook his head vehemently. "And let your family win? I think not." He hit himself in the face a couple of times to help wake himself up. "I am going to get them to stop treating you like you have a disease one way or another, or my name is not Shawn Michaels."

"You do realize your real name is-"

"We do not speak of that name!" Shawn snapped, stepping away from John so he could put his hands on his hips and glare at him. "You hear me?"

John chuckled in amusement and nodded his head. "Yeah I hear ya."

"Good." Shawn reached into John's pocket and grabbed his wallet. "Now you keep being a good boy and get us all checked out of here while I go to the gift shop and buy stuff."

"Gift shop? Why do you need to go to the gift shop? There's nothing in there you need."

"I know but I just like spending your money. It's much more fun than spending my own." Shawn got John's credit card out and started to head towards the shop when Hunter came stumbling in, making a beeline for him only to trip over his own two feet in the process.

"Oh damn it," Shawn heard John mutter as he went over to check on his former partner in crime. He knew that John and Hunter weren't exactly members of each other's fan clubs, but that wasn't going to stop him from at least checking on Hunter. There was some resemblance of a good person buried deep inside the Cerebral Assassin-well, at least Shawn liked to think there was. There was a whole mess of people that would immediately disagree though.

"Shawn," Hunter mumbled as Shawn helped him up to his feet. "Glad to see….mmmm you smell good."

Shawn sighed and did his best to hold Hunter up. "You're still drunk? Jesus Hunter, what were you thinking? And what happened to your nose?"

"Randy broke it," Hunter tattled. "He hit me."

"What did you do to him?" The question was blunt, but appropriate considering Hunter and Randy's troubled past.

Hunter looked insulted by the question. "How could you ask me that? You're supposed to be my friend! You…John poisoned your mind and stole you away from me."

Shawn groaned. Not this again. "Hunter don't-"

"We were happy," Hunter muttered, his eyes beginning to droop close. "So happy…"

"No, you were happy," Shawn corrected. "You weren't the one being manipulated like a puppet on a string."

"But-"

"Come on Helmsley, I'm getting you to your room," John said, barging in on the conversation so he could throw Hunter over his shoulders and start carrying him away. "Shawn can you get us checked out of this place? I'll meet you in the car afterwards."

"Yeah sure," Shawn agreed, although he wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought of John taking Hunter anywhere. That was just pretty much asking for trouble.

"Not you!" Hunter growled right on cue. He started smacking at John's back, although it didn't really do much good because he was so wasted. "Fuck off Cena! Put me down! Put me-ow! You cock sucker! I'm gonna get you for that."

Shawn sighed and shook his head. _Oh Hunter…what are we going to do with you?_

…

Ted was surprised to see that Randy was sleeping in the chair by Cody's bed when he woke up. After getting Cody back to their hotel room and getting him all settled down, Ted had told Randy he could just go before passing out in his own bed, but here Randy was, sitting right by Cody's side. That had to mean something. It just had to. Randy wasn't the type to stick around and babysit his drunk friends once they were passed out. Once they were out, he got them laid down somewhere relatively safe and then he was out.

_The idiot cares about Cody,_ he thought to himself as he got out of bed and walked over to the other bed. _He does. It's why he ran away like a coward when he realized they slept together. He's so stuck on what Hunter did to him that he's too much of a baby to get over it and move on._

Ted looked back and forth between his two sleeping friends, knowing that something had to be done about the two of them. They needed each other. Cody loved Randy so much and Randy needed to be with someone who would care about him…

An idea popped into his brain and he decided to just go ahead and do it instead of taking the time to think it through. He grabbed Randy and being as quiet and careful as he could, he placed Orton on the bed and then placed Cody right into his embraced. "Perfect," Ted said under his breath. He chuckled a little bit as Cody mumbled under his breath and unknowingly snuggled even closer to Randy. "So cute." Very satisfied with himself, he went into the bathroom so he could take a shower. One way or another, something was going to work out between the two of them. He would make damn sure of that.


	11. Chapter 11

Matt knocked on Natalya's door for the sixth time, starting to get very impatient with everyone in that room. "Hello?" he called out, about ready to kick the door in out of pure exasperation. "Anyone home?" No answer. "Ignoring me isn't nice you know. I'm not going to just go away." Still no answer. "Oh come on, you all can't still be asleep. It's like ten in the morning." He balled up his fist and started banging on the door, getting so lost in what he was doing that he didn't realize the door was opening until he hit Natalya right in the head. "Uh oh," he muttered, stepping back fearfully when he saw the look on her face.

"Hardy-" she began to growl

"Before you kill me, I want to make sure you know that I think you are a marvelous human being and I feel privileged for knowing you. I-"

She smacked him upside the head before letting him into the room. "Don't kiss my ass," she told him. "It won't get you anywhere with me."

"Sorry." Matt looked at Adam, who was passed out on the floor. "You made him sleep down there?"

"He tries to hog all the covers and the space on the bed," Tiffany explained.

"Yeah, but still, my baby deserves better than the floor." Matt got down on his hands and knees and crawled over to his boyfriend. "Honey?" he said, gently shaking the sleeping man. "Honey wake up."

"Nuuu," Adam whined, waving one of his hands around and turning over to his side. "No more lesbians. I'll be a good boy if you take the boobies away."

Matt frowned in confusion and looked at the girls. "What did you do to my baby?"

"Nothing," Gail said, doing her best to look innocent. "We only watched a couple episodes of The L Word-"

"You what? You made my baby watch a show about lesbians?" Matt was completely horrified. "What are you trying to do? Kill his fragile little mind?" He scooped Adam into his arms and cradled him against his chest. "My poor baby is going to be scarred for life."

"Oh he is not!" Natalya said in exasperation. "We always have to watch what he wants so we decided to make him watch what we want. It was perfectly fair and he'll be a better person for it." She walked over to Adam and nudged him with her foot. "Aren't you?"

Adam reluctantly opened his eyes so he could glare at her. "If I ever see another boobie again, I'll end your existence."

She put her hands on her hips and glared down at him. "Was that a threat?"

"Of course it wasn't," Matt assured her, actually fearing for his boyfriend's safely. Nattie was scary when she was angry. He was just kidding." He got up to his feet and took Adam with him. "Come on, I have to talk to you."

Adam pouted his lips as Matt dragged him out of the room. "Why is she always so angry Matty? I never did nothing to her."

Matt shook his head, his lips twitching into a small smile. Adam had the tendency to talk like Jeff when he was extremely tired. It was actually pretty adorable. "I don't know. We'll worry about it later. Right now I want to talk to you about something." He opened the door to their room and let Adam go in first before entering himself.

"Aw man, I didn't do it," Adam grumbled, rubbing his eyes with his fist and letting out a huge yawn. "Whatever happened, James did it. We can blame him for everything because he's a serial killer."

"I'm not arguing with that logic," Matt said, shaking his head at the thought of his brother's boyfriend. "But I don't need to blame him for shit right now. I just want to talk to you." He wrapped his arms around Adam from behind and kissed him on the neck. "Are you mad at me?"

"What?" Adam looked confused now. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because of the whole me not wanting a baby thing."

"Oh." Adam sighed and plopped down on the bed. "I'm not mad. I'm just…I don't know. Disappointed I guess." He yawned again and laid back. "Can't we talk about this later? I just want to sleep."

Matt let out a sigh and sat down next to Adam. "I don't want you to be disappointed with me. I just-"

"Don't want a baby. Matt it's fine, okay? Can we just drop the subject?"

"No," Matt refused. He laid back and wrapped his arm around Adam. "It's still upsetting you and we need to find some way to sort it out. I don't want this issue to get pushed to the backburner and then fester to the point where it starts affecting every aspect of our relationship."

Adam groaned and reluctantly forced himself to become more awake. "That's a little bit overdramatic, don't you think?" He shook his head and rolled over so he could snuggle up to Matt. "So what do you suggest we do? Do I talk you into wanting a baby or do you talk me out of wanting one?"

"I don't think we do either," Matt replied. "Shawn kind of had an interesting idea that might work. Actually he had two but that foursome with him and John can wait for another time."

Adam sat straight up at those words. "Foursome? There's going to be a foursome? Why wasn't I told about this before now? You can't keep me out of the loop about these things. I am the resident sexpot in this company and I demand to be told about these things!"

Matt stared at Adam in shock, not quite sure how to come back from that. "Uh…"

Adam stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry. I got carried away." He leaned down and kissed Matt. "Tell me about the non-foursome idea that Shawn had."

Matt hesitated for a second longer just to make sure Adam was done before speaking again. "He said that maybe we should get one of those fake babies they use in the schools these days and use that to test us and see if we're even ready to even think about having a baby."

Adam's eyes widened. "They give out fake babies in schools? Dude, when I was in school, all I got was a lousy egg!"

Matt chuckled at that. "Me too. But apparently these fake babies cry and have to be "fed" and "changed" and all that shit."

"Huh. Weird. Are those things possessed?"

"I don't know. If ours is though, we'll give it to Mark. He can deal with that shit."

Adam grinned and hugged Matt tightly. "Sounds like a plan to me." He gave Matt another kiss before grinning naughtily. "We should celebrate this agreement." He climbed on top of Matt and pinned his hands down above his head. "We should…get pancakes." He laughed at the look on Matt's face before jumping off the bed and running into the bathroom.

Matt shook his head. "You little tease. If you think I'm not going to get you for that then you've got another thing coming!"

…

"I smell sex and candy here. Who's that lounging in my chair? Who's that casting devious glares in my direction? Mama this-"

"Chris! Shut the fuck up man! Randy and Cody are snuggling!"

Randy opened his eyes, confused as hell as to what was going on. _What's Teddy talking about? I'm asleep in the-oh holy shit._ Ted had to have been the one who had put them in this position. It would be just like him to stick his nose where it didn't belong. In fact, it was what he was best at.

_I should get up. I shouldn't be doing this._ Despite thinking that though, Randy didn't let Cody go. In fact, he actually tightened his grip on the younger man, not actually wanting to let go at all. It felt nice to hold someone in his arms. It wasn't something he was used to. Cuddling had never been his ting. Hunter hadn't even really held him during their entire relationship. But here he was, with Cody in his arms, and he was more than willing to spend the whole day just holding him, which scared the ever living hell out of him.

Cody whimpered softly but he didn't wake up. Randy watched him sleep for awhile, trying to tell himself that he needed to at least go back to the chair. He couldn't have Cody wake up and find them in this position. Things were weird and awkward enough between them as it was. More fuel really didn't need to be added to that fire.

"No," Cody protested when Randy tried to get up. He wrapped his arms and legs around Randy and whined softly. You have to stay with me Link. You have to…"

Randy shook his head while doing his best to ignore the way Cody was unknowingly grinding up against him. "My God, are you dreaming about Zelda again? You are such a nerd."

Cody mumbled something incoherent before grinding his groin against Randy's. Randy tried to pull back but Cody was insistent and the grinding had an almost instant effect on the Viper. "Your sword's all pokey Link," Cody mumbled, opening his eyes to glare at "Link". "You should-" His jaw dropped when he realized that it was Randy who was holding him. "Oh my God."

Randy swallowed nervously and shook his head. "I think this is Ted's fault. I was asleep in the chair until this morning."

Cody just stared at him in shock before his hangover hit him at full force. "Oh fuck," he groaned. He quickly rolled out of bed and sprinted into the bathroom. Randy immediately followed him, gagging slightly when he walked in on Cody puking his guts out into the toilet. That had been the last thing that he had wanted to see first thing in the morning.

"Oh fuck," Cody groaned. He dry heaved a couple of times before he flushed the toilet and stood backup. "What the hell was Teddy doing?"

"Fuck if I know," Randy said with a shrug. "You want an aspirin or something?"

Cody nodded. "Please."

Randy went back into the other room and grabbed two aspirin and a bottle of water. Cody took the items from him as soon as he walked back into the bathroom and gulped the pills down like his life depended on them. "Why are you even here?" he asked as he set the bottle down on the sink. "Where's Ted?"

"I don't know about Ted. And I stayed because I was worried about you."

Cody eyed Randy distrustfully. "Why didn't you get out of bed when you woke up with me? You did it last time."

Randy winced. He should have seen that one coming. "Cody please, I stayed the night because I wanted to talk to you. You were too drunk to talk to last night."

Cody groaned and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "What happened to my face?"

"Hunter punched you," Randy told him. "So I broke his nose."

"Oh yeah I-wait what?" Cody looked at Randy in shock. "You did what?"

"I broke Hunter's nose."

"For the love of God why?"

"Because he punched you."

Cody stared at Randy in shock before shaking his head. "You're too confusing," he declared. "Now move." He pushed past Randy and went back to his bed, hugging his pillow tightly to his chest.

"Can we just talk for a minute?" Randy asked. "I just-"

"No," Cody refused.

"Cody please, I'm trying to make amends here."

"So? You're just trying to make yourself feel better, which is something I don't care to help you with right now."

Randy shook his head. "This isn't about me. I hurt you and I want to apologize for it."

"I think you already have. And you know what? It didn't actually make me feel better. Now can you please leave? I'm too hungover to deal with my feelings right now."

Randy opened his mouth to speak but Cody gave him such a nasty glare that he gave up and left. "Fuck," he cursed under his breath, hating that things were so fucked up between them. _So much for fixing this shit._

"What are you doing out here man?" Ted asked as Randy started walking down the hallway. "You can't be out here. You have to be in there with Cody!"

Randy glared at him before smacking him upside the head. "Teddy, the next time you want to stick your nose in mine and Cody's business, don't. Okay?"

"But-"

Randy didn't let him finish. He wasn't in the mood to hear it. Right now all he wanted was to get some air and figure out some sort of way to fix this whole mess of a situation.


	12. Chapter 12

"You know, you can stop pacing any time now. You're really starting to make me feel all motion sick."

Jeff glared at Glenn a bit while he continued pacing around. "They should have been here by now. Why aren't they here yet?" He had been freaking out ever since Mark had called to tell them that he and the boys had finally found out where James was and they were going to go get him

"Well Mark said James couldn't really tell him exactly where he was so-"

"What if James got arrested?" Jeff had barely heard a word Glenn had just said. He was way too busy panicking like a madman. "Huh? What if the cops got to him before Mark did and they figured out what he did and they took him away forever and ever and ever and we'll never-"

"Jeff!" Glenn literally had to grab Jeff and shake him as hard as he could. "That is enough! Do you understand me?"

Jeff blinked and then flinched away from Glenn's gaze. "You don't have to yell at me you know," he whined.

Glenn groaned and forced Jeff to sit back down on the bed. "Just calm down, alright? Freaking out is not going to be helpful in any way."

Jeff tried to object but gave up when he saw the look Glenn gave him. Sighing in defeat, Jeff stayed quiet and sitting down, biting his nails until the moment Mark, Cooper and Connor led a tired and wet James in through the door. "James!" Jeff exclaimed, literally jumping from the bed straight into James's arms. He didn't give a shit about getting wet or even beginning to try to wrap his mind around the carnage James had caused the night before. He was just too focused on being relieved that James was back with him.

"Holy shit," James muttered. He wrapped his arms around Jeff and hugged him tightly. He was wearing Mark's leather jacket but he was still shivering quite a bit. "Hello to you too."

"Okay okay, break it up," Cooper ordered. He and Connor both grabbed on to Jeff and started trying to detangle him from James. "We've got a lot of shit to talk about and I don't have all day to talk about them."

"Just give them a minute," Mark grunted as he glared at Cooper. Jeff really wished he wouldn't do that. The relationship between Cooper and Mark was tense on the best of days and James had confessed to Jeff that it drove him crazy more often than not, but there really wasn't much anyone could do to try to make the relationship better. Neither of them were interested in trying to get along better and James had said that he had learned a long time ago not to try to really force the issue so much.

Cooper glared at Mark a little bit but let Jeff cling to James a little bit longer before grabbing Jeff again and getting him back on to the bed. "Dad needs to change. He's probably already going to get hypothermia as it is, but still-"

"Oh yes, let's talk about the hypothermia," James said sarcastically. He gave Mark his jacket back before shamelessly stripping off his clothes right there in front of everyone. "Because that's all I need at the moment." He took the fresh set of clothes Connor had for him and put them on so he could plop down on the bed and get under the covers. "Holy fuck I'm exhausted."

"Well gee, I wonder why?" Glenn asked sarcastically. "It couldn't have had anything to do with what happened last night, now could it?"

James glared at him before glancing between Mark and Jeff. "I guess we have to talk about what happened last night, don't we?"

Jeff looked down and began chewing on his lower lip. He was almost afraid to even begin addressing the issue but he knew that it had to be done. There was no avoiding it. Last night had proved that James repressing his true nature wasn't going to work in the worst way possible, so now they had to figure out what they were going to do now.

"We do," Mark confirmed. "That death toll…Jesus Christ Lawson, do you have any idea how lucky you are not to have been seen?"

James sighed and made a face. "I know okay? I don't need a lecture?"

"You sure about that?" Glenn asked. "Because-"

"I'm sure Crispy Critter," James interrupted. "Now can I talk to Mark and Jeff alone?" He stressed the word alone, making sure to look at Cooper and Connor so they knew that he needed them to get out too.

"That's code for sex," Connor said wisely, making Mark groan and Cooper roll his eyes. "I don't want to see the sex Coopy. Make me not see it." He grabbed Cooper by the hand and started trying to pull him out of the room. "Take me to go get candy. I want candy Coopy."

Cooper sighed. "Connor-"

"I want candy! It's no fair, I didn't get any all last night because we were looking for Daddy and I want my candy!"

"Alright alright!" Cooper finally said. "I'll get you your damn candy!" He motioned for Glenn to follow him and Connor out of the room. "Crispy will give you the dollar and-"

"Wait, why do I have to give him the money?" Glenn asked unhappily. "He's your brother!"

"Well he's your nephew!"

"No he's not! You are!" The bickering continued as the three of them left the room, which made Mark shakes his head in exasperation. "Well then. That was interesting." He sat down on the bed and pulled Jeff into his lap before smacking James on the ass. "Come on Lawson, don't fall asleep on us now."

"I'm not sleeping," James said as he reluctantly opened his eyes and propped himself up on the pillows. "I was resting my eyes. That's a whole different vibe."

"Sure it is," Mark said with a snort. He slapped James's ass again before looking at Jeff. "You got anything you want to say?"

Jeff stayed silent. There was a lot on his mind that he did need to get out, but he wasn't sure where to even start.

"Come on, you know you can say anything to us," Mark prodded. "Don't be afraid."

"Maybe he's afraid of your breath. Good God Marky, I can smell it all the way over here."

"Shut up Lawson!"

Jeff giggled, which had been the reaction James had been searching for. "It's okay Marky. I'm not afraid of your rancid morning breath."

Mark glowered as James laughed at him. "You two are asking for it. I hope you know this."

"Aw, we're just playing around," Jeff assured him. He wrapped his arms around Mark's neck and hugged him tightly, keeping his eyes on James and starting to rapidly feel like shit all over again. "It was my fault."

Mark and James both looked at him in confusion. "What's your fault?" Mark asked.

"What happened last night. If it hadn't been for me-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," James interrupted. "Stop right there. This shit ain't your fault. I'm the homicidal maniac who-"

"You were going out of your mind because you stopped killing," Jeff pointed out. "And you stopped because of me. Therefore-"

"Trying to stop was a decision I made myself. I wasn't forced-"

"Oh come on, don't tell me that. Between me freaking out when you came home with blood on you and Matt and Dad, you had to have felt forced-"

"No I-"

"Yes you-"

"Okay that's enough!" Mark said, stepping in and getting them to stop talking over each other. "I'm not playing the blame game here so let's just stop and figure out where exactly we go from here."

"Well I was thinking of going to bed…" James's voice trailed off when he saw the glare Mark gave him. "Okay fine. I'll stay up."

Mark continued his glaring before going on with what he had to say. "So it's been very well established that James not killing anymore at all ends in disaster-which I know I shouldn't have fucking let things get as far as they did-"

"You said you weren't going to be playing the blame game," James said, smacking Mark on the chest before focusing his attention solely on Jeff. "Now just listen to me, okay? I'm not a good person. At least not on any real kind of moral sense. Outside of the people I love, human life has no real meaning to me. Killing…it's what I do. It's always what I've done. I could go on and on about what it does for me but you don't need to hear that. What you need to hear is that I'm weak. I can't stop completely. Once I stopped, all I wanted was to start again and I was resenting everyone around me because the decision I had made. And I could have hurt you all…" He stopped and shook his head. "Jeff, I love you. I really do. But there's only so much I can change. I could try to kill less often I guess…but if you really can't live with what I am then I guess we'll just have to…you know…"

Jeff knew what James was saying and it scared him. Despite what he was, he loved James to death and didn't want to lose him. But he knew that deep down, what James did would bother him and more than likely eat away at their relationship, which was something he did not want at all. _There has to be something…anything to change…_

The answer suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. It was so painfully obvious to him that he felt like smacking himself for not thinking of it sooner and preventing the carnage that had taken place the night before. "Dexter!"

"Bless you," James said.

"No no no, Dexter!"

"Who's Dexter?" Mark asked.

Jeff stared at them in disbelief. "Don't either of you watch Showtime?" He sighed impatiently and didn't give them a chance to answer that. "Dexter is a show about a serial killer who works for the Miami Police Department. And he was taught a code by a father to control his homicidal instincts and only kill bad people. You know, like murderers and rapists and all that."

"And what does that-"

"You think that's what I should do," James said, catching on a lot quicker than Mark. "I should kill bad people instead of good innocent people."

"It's a worth a try isn't it?" Jeff looked at Mark, who was thinking about it very carefully. "Isn't it?"

"I guess so," Mark finally said. "You're going to have to be a bit more careful though Lawson. I know you tend to favor homeless bums and runaways-"

"Because nobody really realizes they're gone," James finished with a nod. "Come on Marky, don't treat me like I'm completely retarded. I can be sneaky and kill other bad people without anyone knowing." He grabbed both Jeff and Mark and forced them to lay down next to him. "Now can we go sleepies?"

"Yes," Jeff said while Mark just grunted. He grabbed Mark's arm and put it over him while snuggling up to James. "We can go sleepies now."


	13. Chapter 13

Randy stared out the window, doing his best to tune out the rest of the world as he looked at nothing in particular as Jay drove. He was stuck in a car with Jay, JoMo, Evan and Phil, and they were all being annoyingly loud and obnoxious today. He was trying to resist the urge to turn around and tell them to shut the fuck up, but it was getting harder and harder to do by the second.

"Ugh, this boring," Mor declared as they finished another game of rock-paper-scissors. "We need to come up with something new."

"We could play I Spy," Evan suggested.

Phil snorted loudly at that. "That game is for wussies. Let's play Marry, Fuck, Kill."

"Oooh, I like that one," John said happily. "I'll go first." He turned towards Evan. "Swagger, McIntyre and Miz."

Evan groaned loudly. "Oh come on-"

"You have to answer," John said before he could object too much. "There's no not answering here."

Evan sighed unhappily and thought about it before answering. "Okay I'll fuck Mike, marry Swagger and kill Drew."

"Ew, you would marry Thwagger?" Jay asked with a disgusted look on his face. "Why?"

"Because what else am I supposed to do? I hate Drew so he has to die and marrying Mike? Do I have to go into the reason as to why I don't even want to entertain that possibility?"

"Good point," Jay admitted.

"And since we're on you, let's get your turn over with," Evan said to Jay. "Big Show, Mark Henry and Kozlov."

"What?" Phil yelled.

"Yuck, that's disgusting Evan!" John complained.

Randy finally had to give in and look back at the young high flyer. "There is something seriously wrong with you," he declared.

Evan grinned innocently. "Nonsense. I'm a sweet man with an innocent and pure mind."

"Yeah and I'm the Queen Puerto Rico," Jay muttered.

"Puerto Rico doesn't have a queen," Phil said.

"Don't correct me bitch, I'm deciding my doom." Jay chewed on his lower lip as he tried to come up with an answer. "Okay, I think I've got it…I'd kill Kozlove, marry Mark Henry because he would give me a lifetime supply of Kool-Aid and fuck Big Show." He gave Phil a dirty look because he had chosen to correct him. "Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Phil protested. "That's too far Jay."

"Yeah really," John agreed. "I was with you until the bunny part. Jay can't kill a bunny without looking like an asshole but he can't fuck a bunny either."

"And marrying the bunny could lead to fucking…" Evan helpfully chimed in.

Randy groaned and shook his head. "I think this game needs to end. You people are fucking demented."

"I'm not!" Phil claimed defensively. "I'm innocent in all this!"

"Yeah, Punky is innocent in all this," Jay agreed. "Besides, I don't think it's fair that our game needs to stop just because you're in a bad mood."

Randy glared at him. "Don't test me Reso. I mean it."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Jay said with a snort. He shook his head and struggled to keep his eyes on the road. "Look, I know you're being all upset and broody about this Cody thing. It's not a secret. But taking it out on us isn't going to solve your problems."

Randy scowled and looked back out the window. He knew Jay was right but that failed to take the cranky look off his face. He had tried to talk to Cody again a couple more times but had gotten absolutely nowhere. It was driving him insane and he didn't know how to make it better.

Phil reached up and placed his hand on Randy's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better-"

"It won't so please shut up," Randy requested. "Okay?"

Phil sighed and took his hand away. "Fine. Be that way then." He looked at John and grinned evilly. "Marry, fuck, kill: Ronald McDonald, Doink the Clown and Sheamus?"

…

Cody watched Adam incredulously as the blonde fed the new little fake baby that had just been picked up before they had left. "So how long are you going to have this thing?" he asked.

"First of all, it's not a thing," Adam said as he gave Cody a dirty look. "She's a baby girl and her name is Buffy."

Ted stared at Matt incredulously. "You let him name her Buffy?"

Matt shrugged as he continued to drive. "Have you tried arguing with him? It's pointless. Absolutely pointless."

"Damn right it is," Adam agreed. "I'm a sexy Canadian and I am always right."

Cody shook his head in amazement. "So it's got sensors to know when it's been fed-"

"And sensors for when I have change her and burp her and the whole kit and kaboodle," Adam finished happily. "It's like a real baby, only fake."

Cody nodded along, thinking that Adam had lost his marbles somewhere along the way but deciding it would be best if he just kept his mouth shut. Adam was beyond sure about this baby thing and he didn't want to hear a word against it. Matt seemed unsure about it but Cody had the feeling that one way or another, Adam was going to eventually get the real thing. It was just a matter of time.

"I'm hungry," Ted announced a few minutes later.

Matt groaned loudly. "I told you to eat before we left!"

"That was like two hours ago! I'm hungry again Matt!" Ted folded his arms over his chest and pouted. "Feed me Hardy, feed me!"

Matt sighed. "Fine. Text the others and tell them we're pulling over. They might as well eat too while we're stopping."

"Aw fuck them," Ted said dismissively, even as he was getting his phone out and doing what Matt said. This led to all of them eventually pulling over to a McDonalds, where Cody did his best to avoid even looking at Randy. "You know, he really is sorry," Ted whispered as they entered the restaurant. "You should really cut him a break."

"Ted, when I want your opinion, I will ask for it," Cody whispered back, getting a little more nasty than he intended to. He knew he was probably just being immature now, but he didn't care. He honestly did not care."

"Hi, are you ready to order?"

Cody grinned at the cute cashier that was grinning shyly at him. The guy couldn't have been older than nineteen or twenty and he had a baby face that was absolutely adorable. "Yeah," he replied. "I'll take a number three and a McFlurry."

"Is that all? Because I can-" the boy turned a Sheamus kind of pale when Randy started actually growling at him. Cody rolled his eyes and turned around to face the Viper. "What?" he snapped. "Why are you growling?"

Randy ignored that question while continuing to stare down the cashier. Ted and Matt made sure to keep a hold on Randy's shirt while everyone just looked uncomfortable. Cody finally just rolled his eyes and muttered "whatever" before walking away, going outside so he could start climbing all over the playground that was around back. There were no little kids around so it wasn't like he was going to squish them or anything. He climbed up the slides and then went on top of the tunnel thing that connected one part of the equipment to the other. Normally he wasn't crazy about being up this high, but he was too annoyed and pissed off to really care at the moment.

"Cody!" Randy said as he stormed outside. "Get down from there!"

"No," Cody replied. He folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Why should I?"

"Because you're going to hurt yourself!" Randy looked ready to come up there and get Cody down himself.

"I will not," Cody claimed, even though he was already starting to notice just how slippery it was up there. It had to have rained the night before because it was way too slick to be how it normally was. "And even if it did, why would you care?"

Randy groaned loudly. "Cody, I care, okay? I care more than you think."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. I know I fucked up, okay? I regret it so fucking much…look, what do you want me to do? I've tried apologizing but obviously that means nothing to you. So what do I do now? Huh I'm out of ideas here Cody, I need you to tell me what I need to do."

Cody looked away. The sound of Randy's voice alone was making it hard for him to stay strong. As angry and hurt as he was, his feelings for Randy were still there, and they didn't seem to be going away any time soon. "Randy-" He took a step back so he could get down, but he slipped and before he knew it, he was falling right off the damn thing. He let out a short scream before landing in Randy's arms, who fell back as soon as he had caught Cody.

"Randy!"

"Cody!"

"Holy shit!"

Cody shut his eyes and kept them shut as he regained his bearings. It wasn't until Randy groaned in pain that he opened them again. "Randy? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Randy groaned. "I'm fine." He gave Cody a serious look. "Are you okay?"

Cody just stared at Randy for the longest time, hyper aware of the fact he was laying right on top of the older man and their lips were only inches apart. "Yeah," he finally managed to answer. "I'm fine." He managed to get up and then helped Randy up as well. "I'm not doing that again though."

Randy nodded. "Yeah. That would probably be the smart thing to do."


	14. Chapter 14

John felt sick to his stomach as he turned on to the neighborhood he had grown up in as a kid. He really didn't want to do this. This wasn't going to end well at all. "We should turn around," he said nervously.

"Turn around?" Shawn said in disbelief. "Why? You can't let shit stay this way John. It's time to nut the hell up and face your family."

John's lips twitched violently. "Nut the hell up? You've been talking to Randy too much."

"Nonsense. I find that Mr. Orton can be quite wise when the situation calls for it." Shawn grabbed John's hand that was not on the wheel and gave it a good squeeze. "Your family means a lot to you and if you want to not be the black sheep anymore, you have to fight back. At the very least they'll know you don't appreciate being made the outcast just because you like to play butt pirates instead um…vagina wenches."

John couldn't help but laugh. "Vagina wenches? Man you are full of all kinds of fun sayings today." He pulled into his parent's driveway and leaned over so he could kiss Shawn's cheek. "All I can say is thank God you're with me. I could not do this on my own."

Shawn smiled. "I wouldn't have ever expected you to. I've been through this myself and I never even tried telling my family alone. I had to have a support system." He looked out through the windshield and saw that John's mom was getting up from working on her garden that was in the front yard. "You ready baby?"

"Eh…as I'll ever be." John gave Shawn's hand a squeeze before getting out of the car.

"John! What are you doing here?" Jennifer Cena asked as she took her gardening gloves off and tossed them on to the porch so she could dust her jeans off.

"We were in the neighborhood and we decided to drop by for a visit," John said as casually as he could. He saw the way his mother looked at Shawn and it made him feel uncomfortable. "I hope that's okay."

"Oh of course it is," she assured him. "Why don't you boys come in and we'll have some tea?"

"That would be lovely," Shawn said before John could. He took Jennifer by the arm and gave her his most charming smile. This wasn't their first meeting but he was kind of acting like he was. "And if you wouldn't mind, would you give me some gardening tips? Everything I put in the ground tends to rot and I don't know what to do about it."

Jennifer looked thrown by that request at first but then she seized the opportunity to talk about the gardening shit she constantly obsessed over. John didn't listen to a word of it; he was too busy staring at Shawn's face and suppressing his laugh. Shawn looked completely and totally engrossed with what his mother was saying, even though he had never tried to grow a garden once in his entire life and probably never planned to start any time soon.

When they got inside, they found John Cena Sr. sitting at the kitchen table, reading the sports section of the newspaper. "John, look who's here," Jennifer said as she motioned for John and Shawn to sit down at the table.

John Sr. set down his paper and nodded at the couple. "What brings you boys here?"

"Oh you know…we just wanted to visit," John said, slapping Shawn's legs from under the table when he noticed that his boyfriend was poking at the flowers that were sitting on the table. "We were also planning on seeing Aunt Carol while we're here."

"We were just there yesterday," Jennifer said as she came back with a pitcher of ice tea. "She's doing much better than she was. We're hoping that she gets to come home sometime this week."

"That's great," Shawn said as he took the tea and began drinking it.

"Yeah," John agreed. He shifted around in his seat, unsure of how to approach the subject he really wanted to talk about. "I would have come home sooner to visit but uh…nobody actually told me she was so sick."

Things turned very uncomfortable as soon as he said that. Both of his parents looked away from him and Shawn gave him a look that said he shouldn't stop now. "Why didn't anyone call me sooner?"

Jennifer cleared her throat and shook her head. "Well your schedule is so hectic that-"

"My schedule? My schedule isn't an excuse to keep important stuff like this from me!" John shook his head. "Look, I'm not stupid, okay? I know that my relationship with Shawn is the reason a lot of you don't talk to me."

Jennifer immediately tried to offer up a weak defense. "Honey no-"

"Mom please, don't insult my intelligence. I know you and Dad don't approve." John swallowed heavily and almost faltered but regained his strength when he felt Shawn grab his hand and give it a good squeeze. "I know none of you really do. And I'm not here to demand acceptance or anything. It's tempting but I'm not going to do that. I just…I just want to ask that you at least respect me enough to not shut me out when it comes to stuff like this."

"Son we never-" John Sr. faltered in mid-sentence and looked at Jennifer, who looked guilty as hell. "You know? Let's all go see Aunt Carol right now. She's been asking about you a whole bunch."

Shawn looked at John with raised eyebrows but John gave him a look to keep quiet. If his parents wanted to take them to see Aunt Carol than that was okay with him. The fact that they were obviously including Shawn in on this trip was a start and that was all he could really hope for at the moment.

…

Ted hummed to himself as he headed over to the catering table. He was feeling better than he had been since the whole mess with Cody and Randy had started. While things were not totally back to normal, the incident at McDonalds had at least gotten the two to start speaking to each other again. Ted was personally hoping that something more would start to happen between them because quite frankly, those two were perfect for each other. They always had been, but Randy was too blind to see it and Cody was too scared to ever really pursue anything. It was completely frustrating and it was really making Ted want to step in and try to get the ball going once again. Sure that hadn't ended so great last time but maybe this time would be different. It had to be worth a shot anyway.

"Food food come to-hey, what the hell?" The catering table, which was usually overflowing with food, was more than a little empty. "Uh…" He looked back at the tables and saw exactly where the food had gone. "Hey! Who said you could eat all that? You don't even work here!"

James, Cooper and Connor didn't even acknowledge him while Jeff just laughed and Mark and Glenn shook their heads. "The call of food turns all Lawsons into pigs," Mark said wisely. "Believe me, they don't listen to anyone when their stomachs start growling."

"Yeah well they should share," Glenn growled. He grabbed a plate and stole some food (risking life and limb in the process) so he could hand it off to Ted. "Merry Christmas."

"Thanks." Ted gratefully took the food and sat down next to the older man because he didn't feel like sitting alone.

"You're welcome." Glenn saw that James was smirking smugly and promptly threw an empty bottle of Gatorade at him. "What's so funny Lawson?"

"Your face," James replied.

"Fuck you Lawson."

"I know you want to but-"

"Shut up," Mark cut in. "I'm not listening to this argument again."

"Daddy ran over a squirrel when he was driving," Connor informed Ted. "It squished him up real nice and made his guts explode everywhere!"

Ted stopped in mid-bite and groaned. Now he was not feeling very hungry anymore.

"I don't want to talk about that," Jeff declared. "That was sad and horrible and you're not allowed to drive again." He glared at James as he said that.

James held up his hand defensively. "I couldn't avoid it! There was traffic and it came out of nowhere!"

"Yeah sure. Whatever you say you squirrel murderer." Cooper got a smack on the back of the head for that comment.

"So Teddy," Jeff said, changing the subject so they wouldn't dwell on the dead squirrel anymore. "What have you been up to?"

"Not much," Ted said with a shrug. "I need to play matchmaker with Randy and Cody-"

"Can I tell you the ways that's not a good idea?" Glenn interjected.

"No because Adam and Matt already gave me this talk," Ted replied. "And I will not be swayed."

James swallowed a giant mouthful of food before nodding and smiling a mischievous smile that could be easily interpreted as undeniably evil. "I like the way you think. I think you should count me in."

Ted was about to object but then he remembered he was talking to a supposedly reformed serial killer. If he rejected the help, he could offend the guy and the last he checked, offending serial killers was a huge no-no. "Okay," he agreed. "If that's what you want."

"Lawson don't you dare get involved," Mark said irritably. "Ted's a big enough idiot on his own. He don't need you adding to it."

"Hey!" Ted protested. "I resent that!"

James shook his head. "I like playing matchmaker. It's fun."

"I don't care."

"Well fuck you. I'm doing what I want."

"James-"

"I have SPOKEN!" James declared defiantly. That got him a nasty look from Mark but that had no effect whatsoever. When James had spoken he had meant it, and there wasn't going to be anything anyone could do to stop him.


	15. Chapter 15

"Ssshhh. It's okay Buffy. Don't cry. Daddy Addy doesn't like it when you cry," Adam cooed as he paced back and forth across the locker room, holding the little baby in his arms and doing his best to comfort her as much as possible. He was supposed to be getting ready for his match but he was too busy comforting the baby to bother. "Come on kiddo, I fed, changed and burped you. What more do you want?" He grinned a little bit as he kissed the top of her head. "Do you want me to sing to you? Would that make you feel better?"

Matt's lips twitched into a smirk. "I'm not sure that would make anyone feel better babe."

Adam rolled his eyes and flipped him off. "Don't listen to him Buffy. Daddy Matty doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm a damn good singer."

Matt shook his head, deciding it was not worth going there at the moment. "Honey you have to get ready for your match," he reminded the blonde gently. "You can't skip out on it you know."

Adam sighed and pouted his lips. "But Buffy needs me."

Matt blinked. Even though Adam had been the one campaigning for this whole baby thing, it was surprising Matt just how seriously he was taking this. _At this rate, if we get a real baby, we'll never get him back in the ring._ "Well here, let me take her now. You really do need to get ready."

"Fine," Adam agreed. He kissed the top of Buffy's head. "You be a good girl for Daddy Matty, okay?" He kissed the doll again before handing her off to Matt. Anyone else probably would have found all of that really weird but Matt found it kind of cute. "Here's the sensor thing," Adam said as he took off the bracelet he was wearing and put it on Matt. "Make sure you-"

"Sweetheart I know how to do it," Matt said with a shake of his head. "Now go on damn it! Stephanie is going to have your head if you don't hurry."

Adam shook his head and quickly began to change into his ring gear. Matt whistled at him as he changed, making the blonde smirk smugly. "Like what you see Matty?"

"Oh yeah," Matt confirmed. He grinned as Buffy finally quieted down. "Why don't you dance for me a little bit?"

Adam's smirk got even bigger. "Dance for you? Who said you deserved a dance?"

"Me," Matt replied. He placed Buffy in her makeshift bassinet and folded his arms over his chest. "Come on baby, you know you want to dance for me."

"I thought I had to hurry?" Adam asked, teasingly moving his hips just a tad just to entice Matt.

"This dance shouldn't-"

"Matty! Addy!" Jeff burst right in without knocking, making both Matt and Adam groan. "I have to-whoa!" He eyed Adam's naked form warily. "What are you two sick freaks doing?"

"Nothing now," Adam muttered. He put on his trunks and then sat down so he could put his boots on. "You're a fucking cock block, you know that?"

Jeff smirked and kicked the door shut behind him. "I do what I can." He clasped his hands together and bounced up and down excitedly. "Guess what Matty?"

"What?" Matt said dubiously. He was sure he probably didn't want to know what was about to come out of his younger brother's mouth.

"Jamesey is having a party later and you bozos need to come," Jeff answered. The Jamesey thing made Adam snicker but Matt immediately shook his head.

"No way-"

"Matty-"

"I don't want to party with him-"

"So? This isn't about what you want. This is about Jamesey and Teddy setting up Randy and Cody and Ted getting set up with Glenn without him realizing it."

Now Matt really didn't want to go. Ted trying to set people up was always a disaster but James helping out would be a train wreck of epic proportions. And the only time Matt liked watching train wrecks was during the Jerry Springer Show; experiencing them in real life, especially when any of his friends were involved, was just too much. "Yeah, Adam and I are going to pass," he said. "We're experimenting with the domesticated life and we cannot party like we used to."

Jeff pouted his lips and frowned. "But it's a FAKE baby. You can turn it off for awhile and party with me!"

Adam looked at him like he had just committed sacrilege. "We cannot turn off our daughter! Are you insane?"

"No, I'm delightfully nutty. There is a difference," Jeff replied. He pouted his lips and tried to use the big puppy dog eyes to get his way. "Come on Matty, please come? Please please please?"

Matt didn't say anything for a minute, trying to decide what the hell to do. He knew that if he flat out said no Jeff would just keep whining and pleading until he gave in but he didn't want to have to actually go. "We'll see okay?" he finally said. "If Adam and I feel up to it we'll drop by for a few minutes."

Jeff wasn't entirely pleased with that answer but he accepted it because he realized that was the best he was going to get. "Fine, whatever." He turned around to start to leave but then he stopped and gave Adam a smirk. "Addy?"

"Yes?"

"Mine's bigger." With a snort he ran out of the room, leaving the blonde Canadian a steaming mess.

"It is NOT! I've seen yours and mine is clearly bigger!" Adam jumped up to his feet and chased after Jeff, leaving Matt to shake his head in exasperation. It was times like this he wondered why the hell he loved them so much. "I don't get it Buffster," he said to his fake baby daughter. "I really really don't get it."

…

The visit with Aunt Carol had actually been pretty pleasant. She had been genuinely happy to see John and somehow the topic of hunting shows had come up, which got Carol, Shawn and his dad talking for an hour and a half straight. When they got back to the house, John decided to keep up the bonding and he had volunteered himself and Shawn to help with dinner. Jennifer readily agreed, directing John to making the garlic bread and helping her with the lasagna while Shawn chopped up the vegetables for the salad.

"Can I turn on your radio?" Shawn asked when he spotted it sitting back by the microwave.

John rolled his eyes. "Would it kill you to cook without listening to music for once?" he asked.

"Yes," Shawn replied. "It would."

Jennifer just shook her head. "I don't care if you turn it on. Just not too loud though. Loud music makes my head hurt."

"Thank you!" Shawn bounced over to the radio and switched it on, turning the knob to find a station that he wanted to listen to. "Let's see….ooooh! YES!"

John groaned as the opening beats of Your Love is My Drug started to emerge from the speakers. "Shawn no-"

"Maybe I need some rehab, or maybe just need some sleep, I've got a sick obsession, I'm seeing it in my dreams." Shawn was holding up the handle of the knife he had been using like it was a microphone as he danced around the kitchen like a complete buffoon. "I'm looking down every alley, I'm making those desperate calls, I'm staying up all night hoping, hit my head against the wall-"

Jennifer stared at the Texan in shock before turning to John. "Uh-"

John cut her off with a shake of his head. "I will never forgive Jeff for introducing him to this song. He does this every time it's on."

Shawn smirked and began to approach John, doing the most exaggerated dance moves that either Cena had ever seen in their lives. "What you got boy is hard to find, I think about it all the time, I'm all strung up my heart is fried, I just can't get you off my mind." He was about to launch himself into the chorus when John put his hand over his mouth and shook his head.

"No more. That's more than enough."

Shawn deflated and nodded reluctantly and John (thinking that was the end of it) uncovered his mouth. Shawn started to go back to chopping the veggies but then started singing again just to be defiant. "Won't listen to any advice, mamma's telling me to think twice-"

"Oh god help me," John groaned.

Jennifer looked back and forth between the two of them, her amusement written clearly in her eyes. It seemed that now that she was actually getting to spend time with Shawn, she was coming to actually like him. "You know Shawn, my friends and I sometimes go out and sing karaoke together. You should come with us. I'm sure they would get a kick out of you."

John bit down on his lower lip. Part of him wanted to scold his mother for encouraging Shawn but he stopped himself way before the words could even begin to spill out. He wanted his parents to get along with Shawn and spending time with him would hopefully lead to them coming to terms with their relationship. He knew he was going to have to eventually try to work on his brothers but he was a little less concerned with them. He loved them to death but he wasn't going to fight for their approval. As long as his parents were at least at peace with this situation, then that was what was important to him.

…

When Randy arrived at the arena, he found a note in his dressing room telling him to go to meet Vince in his office. That immediately gave him a funny feeling in his stomach. He tried to shrug it off, but he felt too much like a kid being called to the principal's office. _Relax_, he told himself as he placed his bags under the bench in his dressing room. _It's not like you've done anything…besides punch Hunter in the face but that was totally justifiable!_ Shaking his head, he left his room and went to Vince's office, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Come in!" Vince yelled from inside.

Randy opened the door and came in and he instantly knew that he was in trouble. He could tell just by looking at Vince's face. "You wanted to see me?" he said, keeping his voice as calm and neutral as possible.

Vince nodded and pointed to the chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat please."

Randy walked over to it and sat down, keeping up his cool exterior even though he was twitching on the inside. Vince set aside some of his papers and took off his bifocals so he could start to address Randy. "I talked to Hunter this morning. Now according to him, you got in his face at a bar and hit him for no reason at all."

"That's not what happened," Randy said quickly, internally cursing Hunter out. He was going to really give Helmsley something to bitch about when he got his hands on him again. "When I got there, I found out Hunter punched Cody and I went to confront him about it."

"But you don't deny that you hit Hunter."

"I can't. I'm not going to lie about that. He got in my face and started making threats and shit so he got hit."

Vince took those words in, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands together while slowly shaking his head. "We've had talks about keeping your temper in check before Randy. If Hunter was drunk, you should have-"

"What? Ignored him?" Randy shook his head in disbelief. Vince had always been pretty blind when it came to Hunter. The big nosed blonde had the Chairman wrapped around his grubby fingers ninety nine point nine percent of the time. "That's easy for you to say now. You weren't in the situation at the time."

"I wasn't but as an employee of this company, I would be very careful about how you handle yourself in public from now on. If I feel like you're falling back on your old bad habits, I will take action to protect the image of this company. Do you understand me?"

Randy nodded and got up and left, scowling as he closed the door behind him. "Mother fucker," he muttered. He started to walk down the hallway when he spotted Hunter leaning up against the wall by the vending machine. He stopped and glared at his ex, who grinned smugly. "What's the matter babe? Did you get detention or something?"

Randy's scowl intensified tenfold. "What was the point of tattling like a five year old? Are you that much of a mother fucker to not know when you deserved the hit you took?"

Hunter chuckled, which made Randy even angrier. "Actually…I was just bored and decided to use you as entertainment. Again."

Randy's face turned red and he wanted to go after Hunter so badly that he could taste it. He managed to stop himself though and instead gave the older man a searing glare before stomping away. That just made Hunter laugh and that laughter made Randy's ears ring. Oh how he wanted to get the bastard now. _Gotta talk to Shawn. If anyone knows how to get that idiot where it hurts without getting on the wrong side of Vince, it's him._


	16. Chapter 16

"So why are we having this party again?" Cody asked as Ted pulled him into Mark, Jeff and James's hotel room. He hadn't exactly been given much of a choice in whether he was going to go or get to stay back in his hotel room. Ted had just grabbed him and said they were going to go the party and that had been that.

Ted shrugged just a little too innocently for Cody's taste. "I have no idea. I just got told we were partying and I accepted it. See you have to just accept these kinds of things Coddles. It makes life so much easier."

"Coddles?" James said with a snort. Mark tried to elbow him to get him to shut up but that worked to absolutely no avail.

Cody's face turned red and he gave Cody a dirty look. "Did you have to use that nickname?"

"Oh come on, it's adorable!" Ted tried to pinch Cody's cheeks but Cody slapping him across the face put an end to that real quick. "Ow…you don't have to hit you know."

"Asshole," Cody muttered, almost glaring at James because he was still laughing him but then he decided it would be in his best interest if he refrained from doing so. Luckily for him though, Jeff wasn't afraid of James and he spoke up on Cody's behalf.

"James! Don't make fun of him." Jeff put his arm around Cody and gave him a little hug. "Ignore him. He's just trying to be obnoxious today."

"He's ALWAYS obnoxious," Glenn pointed out. He was sitting at the table drinking a beer, shaking his head at Jeff. "Haven't you caught on to that by now?"

Jeff pouted his lips and let go of Cody so he could hug James. "He is not obnoxious!"

"Yeah," James agreed. He hugged Jeff back and gave Glenn a smug look. "You should listen to this boy Crispy Critter. He knows what he's talking about."

Mark shook his head as Glenn scowled at James. "Don't fucking start," the Deadman ordered. "Okay? I don't want to hear it tonight."

"You never want to hear it," James said with a pout. "How can I properly annoy your deep fried brother if I can't start anything?"

"Fuck you, I'm not deep fried!" Glenn snapped. "How about I just fucking get up and shove my foot into your face? How would you like that?"

"I'd like to see you try," James dared. He glanced over at Ted and grinned. "What about you Teddy? Would you like to see that? Would that get your motor revving?"

"Wha-what?" Ted stammered out, his face turning bright red.

A knock on the door saved them from having James repeat what he just said. Mark quickly answered the door and Phil, Jay, Evan, Mor and a very cranky looking Randy entered the room. "Matt and Adam aren't coming?" Phil asked with a frown. John and Shawn were still with John's parents so Matt and Adam were the only ones unaccounted for.

Jeff just shrugged. "They said they might drop in if they feel up to it, which is just code for them being stupid and not liking us no more." He flopped down on the bed and pouted his lips. "They're mean like that." He grabbed Evan (who was the closest person to him) and pulled him down on to the bed with him so he could hug him. "They're all obsessed with that damn baby. It's weird."

Cooper smirked and shook his head. "Actually I think it's kind of cute."

"Yeah but you're not being ignored for a baby that's not even real," Jeff pointed out. "I mean it would be totally different if that was a real kid they were ditching me for. But it's not and I'm frustrated. Who am I supposed to bug if my big brother isn't around?"

"You can always bug Jay," Mor said, pointing to the token blonde Canadian in the room.

"Oh thanks," Jay sarcastically. "Thanks a lot. Way to throw me under the bus there asshole."

Cody just began to tune out the mindless banter and headed over to Randy, who did not seem happy at all. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. He didn't like seeing Randy look so upset. It really did bother him in a major way.

Randy eyed the others and noticed they were too lost in messing around and talking to each other to even notice that anything was wrong. "Hunter was just being an asshole," he said quietly. "He fucking went to McMahon and got me in trouble for punching him."

Cody's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well did you tell Vince _why_ you punched him?"

"Yeah but it didn't make a damn bit of difference. I got told that if I started falling back into my old habits, Vince was going to take action to protect his company."

Now that really pissed Cody off. Randy did have a history of behaving like an idiot but he wasn't like that anymore. He had mellowed out a lot and it wasn't fair for Vince to be cracking down on him again just because Hunter wanted to act like a douchnozzle. "You want me to kick Hunter's ass for you?"

Randy immediately shook his head. "No way. If McMahon is going to be watching me now then I'll just get Shawn to go after Hunter. If anyone is going to get to that big nosed mother fucker it's him."

"That could be asking for trouble though. Hunter's really getting antsy now because of the wedding-"

"Yeah well you know? Hunter can just fucking get over it. He should have just figured out by now that Shawn's not going to ever love him because he's too much of an arrogant prick."

Cody nodded along, not about to argue with Randy about that. Not only was it the truth but it was just not wise to disagree with Randy about what he said about Hunter. After everything Hunter had done to him, Randy had every right to feel the way he did. Cody would feel the exact same way if Hunter had put him through that same bullshit.

"Yo! You two bitches quit talking so much and come over here and drink with us," James said, holding up a bottle of tequila in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. "If everyone in here except for Princess Straightedge isn't completely smashed by the end of the night I'm going to be really upset."

Phil gave James an incredulous look. "Did you just call me Princess Straightedge?"

"Yes I did," James confirmed. "That's your new official name."

Cody snickered at the look on Phil's face. "I think it's fitting actually."

"Nobody cares what you think Rhodes," Phil snapped.

"I do," Randy said.

James and Ted smirked at each other and James quickly poured Cody and Randy each a shot. "Here," James said. "Drink up bitches."

Cooper shook his head at his father. "What is it with you and the word bitches tonight Dad?"

Connor giggled loudly and hugged Cooper's leg. He was the only besides Phil who wasn't getting passed any alcohol and Cody figured that was probably for the best. "Daddy likes bitches!"

"Yes I do," James said as he ruffled Connor's hair. "Why do you think I love Mark so much?"

"Hey!" Mark objected while Glenn and Cooper laughed. "What the hell Lawson?"

James just grinned and kissed Mark's cheek. "You know you love me."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I should smack you."

"As long as it's on my ass, be my guest."

…

With the alcohol flowing and Phil being the sober parent they were all ignoring, it didn't take long for all of them to get completely smashed. And with that smashed state came a rather "brilliant" idea. "It's called Win the Shot, Call the Spot," Jeff slurred as he hung all over Evan and James.

"Oh God, this game again?" Phil moaned. "Do you have any idea how bad of an idea this is?"

"Shaddup and be the judge already," Mark said as he handed Evan and Jeff their shots. "On the count of three. One…two…three!"

Jeff and Evan both drank with Jeff being the one who finished first. "Alright," Jeff said, rubbing his hands together deviously. "Since I won I say that you have to get naked and skip down to the ice machine and then skip back here."

"Skip?" Evan whined. "Why do I have to skip?"

"Because I won the shot," Jeff replied. "Now strip and skip bitch!"

Cody snickered as Evan took his clothes off. "Strip and skip, strip and skip, strip and skip, strip and-"

"Shut up Cody!" Jay ordered. "You're ruining the show." He slapped Evan on the ass and laughed as he turned a deep shade of red. "Go get 'em tiger!"

Evan continued to blush as he opened the door and started skipping and everyone immediately ran out of the room to watch him go, hooting and hollering the entire time. Several innocent bystanders were in Evan's way and they got quite the eyeful as Evan passed them by. "You all suck!" Evan declared when he got back into the room. "You really really suck!"

"Ah you know you love us," Jay said as he handed Evan back his clothes.

Evan just muttered something totally incomprehensible under his breath and nobody bothered to find out what it was. Instead Jay faced off with Mor next and Jay ended up having to chug a bottle of vodka (he promptly got sick when he was done). Then Cooper and Mark faced off and Mark ended up having to bow down to Cooper and proclaim him as supreme ruler and master of the universe (which did not go over well with Mark at all). Then James faced off with Glenn and James won, which led to rather interesting consequences.

"You have to let Teddy Bear here give you a lap dance," James declared, laughing as Glenn's eyes widened.

"Wha?" Ted said in confusion. "Why am I pulled into this, I-"

"Oh come on, you know you want to do it," James said. He leaned over and whispered something else in Ted's ear. Cody didn't know what it was, but to his shock it prompted Ted to nod and point at the radio. "Give me some music!"

"Now wait-" Glenn's voice died when Mark turned the radio on and Ted started moving his hips to the music, smirking as he pushed Glenn down on to the chair and straddled his lap.

"Oh…my…God," Randy said as he watched Ted grind Glenn like he was a stripper or something.

"I think I need another drink," Cody said as he put his hand over his mouth.

"Your wish is my command!" James said happily. He handed Cody a drink and kept one for himself. "Me versus you. You ready?"

"Didn't you just go?" Randy asked.

"Yeah but there's an odd number of people playing so I'm going twice to compensate." James nodded at Cody and they drank and James won, just like he just did against Glenn. "Okay," James said, barely holding in a burp that was trying to escape him. "Cody, I want you to take Randy and go into the closet for ten minutes."

Cody's eyes widened. "What?" he squeaked.

James rolled his eyes but instead of bothering to repeat himself, he merely picked up both Randy and Cody and deposited them inside the closet. "Have fun!" he said cheerfully as he closed the door.

Randy blinked and shook his head slowly, his alcohol filled mind having trouble processing what it was that just happened. "Dude…it's dark in here."

"Yeah," Cody agreed. He started reaching around for the doorknob but ended up touching Randy instead. Something sparked as soon as their skin touched and his breath got caught in his throat and his heart started pounding inside of his chest. "Randy…"

"Oh fuck it," Randy said, grabbing Cody by the face and smashing their lips together.

Cody gasped but didn't try to pull away. He just deepened the kiss in a very sloppy manner, not caring about who was on the other side listening to them. "Randy," he groaned as he was pushed back up against the wall. "Randy…"

…

Phil shook his head as he stepped away from eavesdropping on the make-out session. James looked pretty proud of himself but Phil had quite a few reservations about this. "If they regret in the morning-"

"Aw fuck regret," James slurred out. He waved his arms around dramatically. "Those two are perfect together. They just need to wake up and smell the roses." He put his arm around Phil and gave him an evil look. "Now let's get you in a dress."

Phil blinked, unsure if he had heard that right. "I'm not wearing a dress," he stated when he realized James wasn't joking. "You can't make me."

James just smirked evilly. "You wanna bet?"


	17. Chapter 17

Ted handed Cody an aspirin and a bottle of water. "Are you okay Code Man?" he asked, hovering over his best friend who was nursing a very bad hangover. He himself wasn't feeling that great but he was keeping his mouth shut about it because Cody didn't need to hear him complain at the moment. There was something else bothering the younger man and Ted intended to get to the bottom of it.

Cody shook his head as he placed the pill in his mouth and chased it down with a drink of water. "No I'm not," he replied.

"Are you going to spew? Because I've got just the thing for that." Ted grabbed a little Dixie cup and held it up. "See?"

Cody looked at him like he had gone completely stupid. "Dude! What the hell is that going to do? That wouldn't work at all!"

"It might," Ted said defensively. "If you only had to throw up a teeny tiny bit."

Cody rolled his eyes and pushed the cup away. "I'm not going to throw up. That's not the problem here."

"Then what is the problem?" Ted asked. "Come on Coddles, you know you can talk to me. What else is your bestest friend for?"

"First of all, don't call me that," Cody said irritably. "That's annoying. And second of all…well…Randy kissed me when we were in the closet last night."

Ted grinned at that. That was good news in his opinion. "Well congratulations!" Honestly, it was about time the two of them did something. It was so obvious that they wanted each other and the fact that they weren't acting on it was insane. Of course he knew he was sort of a hypocrite because he had feelings he hadn't acted on yet but this was different. Cody and Randy were so obviously right for each other that to deny it was just against the laws of god and man.

"Congratulations?" Cody repeated slowly. "Dude!"

"What? That's what you wanted wasn't it?"

"Well yeah but we were drunk! And us being drunk and physical doesn't end well, remember?"

"Okay so it didn't the first time but that doesn't mean it can't be different this time around." Ted sat down next to Cody and made sure his best friend couldn't look away from him. "Look man, I'm not the brightest bulb in this universe but I know that you and Randy are so fucking right for each other. Like seriously, whatever is stopping you two from being together, it needs to go away so you can just get with it already!"

Cody shook his head at that. "Its not that simple-"

"Yes it is! You guys just can't get out of your own way to see it. You love him and I know he loves you, even if he's too much of a pussy to admit it."

"I don't know…"

"Look, you have to trust me on this."

"Wait wait wait. Hold the phone there Teddy. Every time you say I have to trust you, it doesn't exactly end very well."

"Hey, that's not the point! The point is, you and Randy are so totally right for each other. You know, I know it, he knows it, our friends know it, the rest of the locker room knows it, the fans know it-"

"Okay Ted I get it."

"-the ring crew knows it, the TNA locker room knows it, your future adopted love child knows it-"

"Ted! I get it okay? Now would you shut up for two seconds?"

Ted reluctantly closed his mouth. He didn't know why Randy and Cody were always making this much more difficult than it needed to be. To him, it was all very simple. They loved each other so they should just get together already. "You should talk to him," he finally said. It had been ten seconds since he had last spoke so he figured it was safe to talk again.

Cody gave him a look that said that the silence had not lasted long enough but he didn't try to make Ted shut up again. Instead he just put his hand over his stomach and groaned miserably. "If I go talk to him now I might throw up on him. I think that conversation needs to wait until I feel better."

"Okay, fair enough," Ted conceded with a nod. There was no sense in having everything get ruined by vomit. "So what should we do until then?"

"I don't know…maybe go torture Hornswoggle again?"

Ted nodded slowly at that. "Yeah, sure. That sounds good to me."

…

"Damn it!" Shawn yelled in exasperation. He was rubbing his temples furiously to try to offset the migraine that was coming his way but it wasn't working that well. "Damn it damn it damn it!" His wedding planning was starting to fall apart on him. He couldn't find a design he liked for the cake, the church that agreed to let them hold the wedding there changed their minds which meant they had to get a whole new location and to top it off, John's family still hadn't said whether they would even show up or not. It was frustrating the fuck out of him because he wanted this whole wedding to be perfect. This was going to be his third trip down the altar and John's first, so he was determined to make this the best wedding ever. And for anyone to try to make that goal difficult for him was fucking blasphemy in his eyes.

"Baby calm down," John said. He reached over and grabbed Shawn's arm so he could pull the older man onto his lap. "Please calm down. It's not that bad-"

"Not that bad? John, we're a week and a half away from the wedding and we don't have a cake, a location or your family! I have to call everyone who is coming and tell them about the new place if we even find one and who knows who will even let us have it anywhere on such short notice-"

John could tell that the panic train was just getting started and he decided to nip it in the bud before it got too out of control. He pressed his lips against Shawn's and kissed him for all he was worth, tightening his grip on his fiancé until he felt him kissing him back. They stayed in their embrace for several minutes, testing their breath holding limit as they made out. When they finally broke apart, they were both gasping for air and John was smirking triumphantly. "Feel better?"

"Momentarily," Shawn admitted. He resumed the kissing and John happily slid his hands up Shawn's shirt, running them up and down the older man's back. He wasn't about to freak out about the whole wedding situation the way that Shawn was. There was no point in it. He had never expected his family to come at all, even though his parents seemed to be slightly coming around to the idea of him marrying Shawn. The cake problem would be easily solved once Shawn stopped being so damn indecisive and while the new location thing was definitely an issue, he had the confidence that they would work something out. This wasn't the end of the world even if Shawn felt like it was.

The door suddenly opened and Hunter came barging in without an invitation. "Must you do that?" he asked irritably.

John gave Hunter an irritated look. "Yes," he replied. "This is our locker room and the door was shut."

"Yeah well I need to borrow Shawn," Hunter snapped. "We've got a tag match tonight against Big Show and Jericho and we can't really talk strategy if he's in here with you."

"Well maybe you could wait until we're done."

"And maybe you could act like a fucking professional for once. This is work people, not a fucking orgy!"

John just about got out of his seat so he could get in Hunter's face but Shawn jumped up first and shook his head. "I'll handle this," he promised. "Don't start with him."

"Yeah," Hunter said smugly. "Don't start something you can't finish."

"Hey, you shut up and don't start anything too!" Shawn snapped, turning on Hunter so fast that John had to laugh. "You hear me?"

John continued to chuckle as Shawn practically shoved Hunter out of the room so they could talk. "He's gonna get it," he said gleefully. He shook his head in amusement and grabbed a magazine so he could read it until Shawn came back in. One way or another, he didn't see that conversation taking too long.

…

"What the hell is your problem?" Shawn asked as he glared at Hunter angrily. They had walked a little ways down the hall so they could have a little bit more privacy. "Why do you have to come in there and start antagonizing him?"

"Antagonizing him?" Hunter repeated incredulously. "I didn't antagonize him! I came to discuss business with you and found you two practically humping! Sue me for not wanting to see that."

"Hunter, you walked into OUR locker room uninvited. It's OUR locker room and if we want to make-out and hump each other that's our choice! And don't you roll your eyes at me!" Shawn slapped Hunter's arm in mid-eye roll. "You hear me? Don't take that attitude with me because I'm not going to put up with it."

"I'll take any attitude I want to take," Hunter said defiantly. "I don't like Cena. You've ALWAYS known that I've NEVER liked him. I'm not going to change my mind just because you're about to marry him."

"You won't even try though," Shawn pointed out. "If you would stop being a jackass for two seconds you might actually like him."

Hunter snorted loudly at that. "Why would I like him? He's a goody fucking two shoes that-"

"You just don't like him because he's dating me," Shawn stated bluntly. He knew that while Hunter did hate John for the reasons he said, the real reason behind the majority of the hate was because of Shawn was with him. Shawn was used to that from Hunter; Hunter had hated everyone he had ever dated who wasn't him. Shawn knew damn well that Hunter wanted him back but that was never going to happen. Shawn was completely and totally in love with John and wasn't about to ever leave him.

Hunter pursed his lips together and shook his head. "He'll never love you the way I do. I hope you know that."

Shawn snorted. "No he won't. He loves me for me. You just love me as a trophy."

Hunter's eyes narrowed at those words. Shawn knew he had just pissed him off but he refused to flinch. Instead he just kept his gaze steady and watched as Hunter turned on his heels and stormed off, their pre-match discussion forgotten about completely. Shawn sighed and ran his hand through his hair. _Well shit…that match is going to be a bitch to get through later._


	18. Chapter 18

James hummed under his breath as he wrote down a list of names and addresses in the notebook in front of him. He had gotten Cooper to go online for him because he wasn't that great with technology and pull up a website that listed all the sex offenders in the area. The bloodlust that constantly lived inside of him needed to be fed and his boredom needed to be cured so he was going to find himself someone that deserved to die. And who better than sex offenders? The bastards shouldn't have even been allowed to live in the first place. Only sickos got off on raping women and even sicker assholes got off on poor little kiddies. The way he saw it, he was doing the world a favor while keeping himself happy as a pig in shit. So really, everyone won.

Once he was finished writing down all the stuff he needed, he stood back up and looked at Cooper, who was flipping through a magazine out of boredom. "You can have it back now," he informed him. "Unless you want to join me."

Cooper shook his head and reclaimed his chair in front of his computer. "Nah. I'll pass. Have fun though."

James nodded and left the room while going down his list once again, deciding to go after the very first name he had written down because that just seemed the easiest way of going about things to him. "Connor?" he called out, checking his room first and then going downstairs when he didn't find him. "Connor?" He followed the sounds of the television and ended up finding Jeff, Mark and Connor all sitting in the living room watching Predator together.

"Ssssshhhh!" Connor scolded as he looked back and gave James a nasty look. "I is watching monster movies!"

"Oh, okay," James said, nodding his head and giving Connor the most apologetic look that he could muster in order to appease him.

Jeff gave Connor an amused look before patting the spot next to him. "Come here James. Come watch with us."

James shook his head. "I'd love too but I uh…got some hunting to do." He saw the look that came into Jeff's eyes and he quickly shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm sticking to the new code. Only guilty victims for me."

"And who exactly is the guilty party on the menu for tonight?" Mark asked. His eyes were studying James very very carefully, trying to pick him apart and make sure he was being honest with the answer he was about to give.

James glanced at his list to make sure he got the name right before speaking. "Victor Henderson, child molester." He smirked at Mark as Jeff immediately nodded his approval. "That guilty enough for you Marky Mark?"

"I think he fits the requirements," Mark shot back dryly. "You taking the boys?"

James shook his head. "Cooper's too busy with his stupid computer and Connor is obviously occupied-"

"Yes I am," Connor stated, getting snotty because nobody was shutting up like he wanted them to. "So SHHHHHHH! Stupid infidels."

Mark rolled his eyes and went to say something nasty to Connor when Jeff whispered something in his ear that made him sigh and get up. "I'll go with you," he volunteered. "You can do the dirty work and I'll be there for the ride."

James raised his eyebrows at that. That had been the last thing he had expected to hear. Now normally he was all for Mark coming along and keeping him coming but he could feel that the offer wasn't entirely up on the level and he had a sneaking suspicion as to why that was. "What's the matter Jeffey? You don't trust me to stay away from the innocent people?"

Jeff immediately shook his head. "I do trust you. You just sounded like you wanted company…" He stopped and pouted when James only shook his head. "What? It's the truth!"

It wasn't and James knew it. Not the whole truth anyway. He could tell by just looking at Jeff and Mark that they weren't really sure about him staying away from temptation and only killing the guilty people. And maybe they were right to worry. Self control really wasn't something he was great at. He knew that. Hell anyone who knew him knew it. What if this Victor asshole wasn't home and he ran into a perfectly good potential victim on his way to the next person? It wasn't like he was changing because he wanted to change. He was changing to appease Jeff. That was it.

Mark shook his head and grabbed James by the arm. "Come on. Let's go and get this done with already."

James pouted as he allowed Mark to pull him along out of the house and out on to the driveway. "Oh geez, make me feel like I'm some gigantic chore or something," he said with a pout. "Thanks Marky, thanks a lot."

"Oh come on Lawson, don't get overdramatic on me." Mark dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a set of car keys. "Shit. I forgot which one this goes to."

James smirked and pointed to the black SUV that was nearest to the door. "It's the keys to that one."

"How do you know?"

"My memory is better than yours. It's the benefit of not being a professional wrestler." James snatched the keys out of Mark's hand and then got into the driver's seat before they could be taken back away from him. "I told you were going to lose brain cells Marky but did you listen? Nooo you didn't."

Mark grunted and got into the passenger's seat. "Oh shut up and drive Lawson."

James smirked and went into full taunting mode because he knew it would annoy Mark. "Oh what's the matter Marky? Did I hurt your feelings?"

"No. But if you don't shut up I'll hurt something of yours and I guarantee you that it won't be your feelings."

"No you won't. You wouldn't be a good babysitter if you did."

"Lawson-""Marky, you're here to baby-sit me. I know this and I'm accepting this. Now let's just stop pretending that this is something that its not. I'm no idiot you know." As he was saying all this, he went to shift the car into reverse in order to back out of the driveway. What he didn't realize though was that he shifted too far and put the car into drive instead, so when he put his foot on the gas, he promptly crashed into Cooper's car, which was parked right in front of him.

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a low chuckle. "You were saying?"

"That proved nothing!" James whined. "Nothing!"

"Yeah sure. Whatever you say Lawson."

…

Matt loved Adam more than life itself. That was a proven fact. He said it on more than one occasion and he felt like he had proven it by this point. That was why he usually went along with whatever Adam wanted to do, provided that it wasn't too idiotic or would result in someone getting hurt. That was why he found himself in this particular situation. He was currently standing in Walmart with his hands on Buffy's stroller (yes, Adam had absolutely insisted on having their fake baby having her own stroller), watching as Adam tried to decide which onesies he wanted to buy their temporary daughter. At first Matt honestly thought he was joking but as it turned out, he wasn't. He had turned this into a very serious operation and was taking this task so seriously that one would have thought it was a matter of life or death.

"Aw, this one's cute," Adam said as he held up a pink one with little ducks on it. "What do you think Matt?"

Matt nodded along because Adam liked it. If Adam liked something, it was usually just easier to say you liked it too to avoid an argument. "It looks good. I'm sure she'll like it." Immediately after saying that he reminded himself that she wasn't real. He had been having to do that more and more lately. Adam was so gung-ho about this entire thing that it had become contagious.

Adam grinned and put it in the cart before grabbing a striped one. "What about this?"

Matt immediately shook his head. "Stripes don't look good on anyone. It's just a giant no-no in the world of fashion." _And oh my God I cannot believe I just said that. Adam you better pay me back big time for this._

Adam pursed his lips and studied the outfit a little more closely before nodding in agreement. "You're right. I couldn't do that to her." He put the outfit down and started searching through other ones. He was concentrating so hard that his tongue was sticking out from between his teeth and Matt had to fight very hard to not start laughing because it was so cute. It really did amaze him the way Adam was taking to this whole parenthood thing. He honestly hadn't expected all of this. He figured that Adam would quickly realize he was not ready for parenthood and then the issue would be dropped for a few more years. But Adam was rising to the occasion and proving that he did really want a baby and was ready for it. And sometimes, as he watched Adam fuss over her, Matt found himself not seeing Adam playing with a doll meant to simulate a baby, but he saw Adam playing with an actual baby. Their own daughter…she had no name but Matt could see her. He really could. And that kind of scared him just a little bit.

"Matt? You okay?"

"What?" Matt blinked and slowly realized he had completely spaced off into his own little world. "Oh. I'm fine."

Adam frowned and stepped closer to him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah of course. I was just thinking."

"Oh yeah?" Adam grinned slightly and wrapped his arms around Matt's waist. "And what were you thinking about Mr. Hardy?"

Matt wasn't quite sure what to say at first. He didn't want to say his mind was changing about the whole not having their own baby thing just in case he was wrong and he really wasn't ready for it. The last thing he wanted to do was jump into something without being absolutely sure that it was what he wanted and he certainly didn't want to say one thing and end up disappointing Adam by realizing that he was wrong. "You," he finally replied, which wasn't really a lie. Adam had been on his mind after all.

Adam grinned at that. "Me?"

Matt nodded and nipped playfully at Adam's lips. "I was thinking about all the stuff I'm gonna do to you once we get home."

Adam's grin got even bigger. "Oh yeah?" He glanced around to see if anyone around them was watching before arching his hips forward and rubbing his groin against Matt's. "Think you could give me a preview of what that stuff will be?"

"I could," Matt said with a nod. "But…I won't." He smirked and stepped away so he could push Buffy's stroller away, leaving Adam a pouting and horny mess behind him. He knew he was going to get it later but it would be worth it and that was all that mattered to him.

…

Randy sighed and shifted around restlessly. He was chilling out in Jay's hotel room watching Man vs. Food with Captain Charisma, Mor and Phil. He couldn't really pay as much attention to it though as he normally did. His mind was on Cody, just like it had been since they had made-out in the closet. He couldn't get his mind off of him at all and eventually he just stopped trying. He kept replaying the whole thing in his mind over and over again, remembering the way Cody's lips tasted and wanting more. Fuck how he wanted more. It was enough to drive him absolutely insane.

"You know, I would so do this show," Phil said as he munched on some chips. It was practically impossible to watch this show without eating something. "I really would. When I retire from wrestling, I'm gonna kick this host out and do it myself."

Mor shook his head. "If you do this show you're either going to die from a heart attack because your cholesterol levels are going to be higher than Rob Van Dam or you're going to get horrendously fat."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Phil said with a shrug. He groaned as he looked at the giant pancake challenge that Adam Richmond was supposed to have to beat. "That lucky mother fucker! I'd KILL to have a pancake that big!"

Jay chuckled at that and then looked over at Randy, who was still in his own little world. "Yo. Earth to Orton. Are you with us at all buddy?"

Randy grunted and slapped Jay's hand away when it came up to wave in front of his face. "Don't. I'm fine."

Jay rolled his eyes. "That's great, but I didn't ask how you were. I asked you if you were here with us."

"Oh." Randy thought about saying something more but decided to return to absently staring at the television.

Mor raised his eyebrows and gently elbowed Phil's side. "What's his deal?" he asked, not being nearly as quiet as he thought he was being.

Phil smirked knowingly. He, Jay and Ted had been having secret discussions about what needed to be done about this whole Randy/Cody situation and had come to the conclusion that it was time to aggressively push the two of them. Or more specifically, it was time for them to really push Randy into Cody because he had to make the first real move. He had issues to overcome and couldn't be given a chance to reject Cody if he tried to push anything anywhere. "He's scared," he said with a nod. "That's his deal."

Mor raised his eyebrows in surprise while Jay and Randy both shot him warning glares for two very different reasons. Jay's said "Wait until I'm not right next to him you fucking moron" and Randy's simply said "shut the fuck up Brooks". "Scared?" Mor looked at Randy and then back at Phil. "Why would he-"

"Hey assholes, I'm right here," Randy reminded them. "If you want to say stuff about me, just say it to me."

"Wait, don't do it yet." Jay held up his hand to keep Phil silent until he got up and moved to the other side of the room. "Okay. Now you may commence."

Phil gave Jay a dirty look. "You were supposed to help!"

"I'll help from here," Jay assured him. "But if he has too bad of a reaction-"

"I could catch you even if you ran Reso," Randy reminded him. He had a feeling what the upcoming conversation was going to be about and he really didn't want to hear it. They weren't going to get it so he just would rather have them stay out of it. "Just keep that in mind."

Jay gulped nervously and shook his head. "Look Randy, we care about you. We're your friends and there's a lot of platonic love for you coming from us. And we know you're not really happy."

"You're Mister Grouchy Pants," Mor chimed in. "And it's not good for you. For face is going to get stuck in that perpetual frown and then what are you going to do?"

"I'd stay away from you so you wouldn't say that you told me so," Randy replied.

"But I LIKE saying I told you so!" Mor whined. "You can't deprive me of that. That's cruel and unusual punishment."

Phil snorted at Mor's overdramaticness before taking control of the conversation. "You know what would make you happy?"

"Brooks-"

"Asking Cody out. We all know you're thinking about him. We all know you really care about him. And we also all know you're not willing to go out of your own way to do something about it because you're stubborn."

"And?" Randy was trying to keep his voice as hard and cold as possible. So what if he had feelings for Cody? Acting on them was too big of a risk. Cody wanted a relationship; how was he supposed to provide that? Every time he had had a relationship it had ended in utter failure and after the disaster with Hunter…no, he couldn't go through that again.

Jay groaned because he saw the look in Randy's eyes and he knew what the younger man was thinking about. "You can't keep letting him win you know."

"I'm not-"

"You are," Phil cut in. "Hunter's a giant bag of douche. He fucked you over because he could. Cody actually cares about you and wants to be with you. And even Helen Kellar can see that you care about him back."

"Uh…she's dead," Mor said slowly.

"That's right! She's deaf, dumb, blind and _dead_ and she can see it!" Phil exclaimed. "That's how bad you got it." He stood up and grabbed Randy so he could pull him to his feet as well. "And every day you deny yourself of what you truly want, you're letting Hunter win and forever submitting your balls to him."

Randy raised his eyebrows. He hadn't actually thought about it like that before. "I guess-"

"And those are YOUR balls!" Phil stated, getting so into this whole pep talk thing that he didn't even notice that Randy already seemed to be cracking. "Your balls I tell you." He reached out and grabbed Randy's crotch. "See?"

"WHOA!" Randy exclaimed, jumping in shock. "Personal bubble Brooks! Personal bubble!"

"Those are your balls Randal," Phil said, not even noticing how Mor was staring at him with a dropped jaw and Jay was howling with laughter. "And you keep handing them over to Hunter like a little bitch."

"Brooks I swear-"

"Stop it. You just stop it right now. You understand me?"

"Yes," Randy said, giving in because he realized Phil was not going to stop until he said what he wanted to hear.

"You take your balls and you keep them. You keep them and you fucking stab Hunter in the eye if he tries to take them from you again. You got it?"

"Yes!"

"Good boy." Phil let Randy go and happily plopped down in his chair. "I knew you would see things my way."

Randy shook his head as Jay continued to roll around the floor laughing his ass off. "Your version of pep talking is fucking weird dude. I hope you know that."

"But I think I got my point across," Phil replied. He reached back over and slapped Randy's ass. "Now go get your man tiger. He's waiting for you."


	19. Chapter 19

"We should just have the wedding at our place."

Shawn turned his head and looked at John in surprise. "Wait what?"

"The wedding," John said, reaching out and grabbing Shawn so he could pull the smaller man into his lap. "We should have it at our ranch. We've got enough room on the property for it and it would be cheaper than trying to rent a place with this short of notice."

Shawn mulled that over. John's idea was good and practical but it didn't take into consideration one very important thing. "You want to have a wedding with a whole bunch of wrestlers as the guests at our house? Have you gone mental in some way? They'll destroy the place!"

"We can make them behave," John insisted. He faltered a bit when he saw the look Shawn gave him for that comment. "We can…okay maybe we can't but come on! It's not even the wedding ceremony itself that we would have to worry about everyone misbehaving. It's the reception and if we do it outside _away_ from the house-look, if you really don't like it I'll come up with another idea."

Shawn let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm not against the idea really. I just think we need to move all our really valuable stuff to a safe location until after the wedding. "

"You really think everyone is going to wreck our stuff?"

"Once they get drunk and if the Lawsons show up uninvited-"

"Wait, the Lawsons aren't invited?"

"Nope."

"Why not? I mean, is it just because they'll be a bad influence on the kids?" That would be a great reason and all seeing as how they were probably the weirdest and most fucked up family he had ever seen. But considering that Mark and Jeff were both coming and the kids weren't staying all through the reception, he figured the destructive trio would be allowed to show up then.

"Well there's that and uh…well I've got some history with James." Shawn hadn't wanted to talk about this because these memories sucked but he figured that John was going to have to know sooner or later.

"History?" John's brow furrowed at that. "What do you mean history?" His eyebrows went up when Shawn didn't immediately respond. "You guys were together, weren't you?"

"What? No!" Shawn shook his head vehemently. "No no no. Never. I never ever did anything with him."

"Then what exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"Well…let's just say that uh…I was a torture victim of his."

"_Look what he did to me!" Shawn yelled hysterically at his boyfriend Bret. He had gotten completely trashed the night before and had been left at the mercy of James, who had decided it would be funny to dye his hair orange and stick him in a cocktail dress and then leave him passed out in the lobby with his legs spread open for the world to see. "Do you SEE this? He left me there to get RAPED!"_

"_Shawn-"_

"_SHUT UP!" Shawn was so wound up that he had absolutely no control over the volume of his own voice. "Why is he always doing these things to me? I don't do anything to him and all he does is torture me!"_

"_I know baby, I know." Bret was desperate to get Shawn to calm down because the entire hotel could hear his yelling. "Let's get you in the shower and see if we can get that dye out of your hair-"_

"_I want you to beat him up," Shawn declared. He wanted James to pay for everything he had been doing to him since the moment they had met. The guy had done nothing but torment him since that moment and he was getting tired of it._

"_Beat him up?" Bret looked beyond apprehensive about that (and for good reason)._

"_Yes," Shawn confirmed. "I want you to beat him up and make him pay." He frowned when he saw the look on Bret's face. "What? You're not going to defend my honor?"_

"_I didn't say that but-"_

"_So you're scared." Shawn huffed angrily at that and flipped his hair behind his shoulder. "Well fine. Be that way. I'll go defend myself."_

"_Shawn don't do anything-Shawn!" Bret reached out and tried to stop Shawn from going but Shawn managed to keep himself out of Bret's grip so he could stomp off in search for James. People were staring at him as he went along, openly laughing at his hair and mocking the hissy fit he was throwing. He didn't even care though. He just kept going until he got back down to the lobby, where he found Mark and James trying to check out of the hotel._

"_Princess Shawnie!" James said, cheekily grinning at the infuriated man. "How are you feeling?"_

_Shawn just growled and made an attempt to hit James right in the face but that went wrong right off the bat. James not only easily blocked the blow but he picked Shawn up and threw him over his shoulders like he weighed nothing at all. "Hey!" he objected. "Put me down you bastard!"_

"_Make me," James replied. He grinned at Mark, who was shaking his head in exasperation. "What do you think? You think I should toss him into the pool?"_

"Do I even need to keep going on?" Shawn asked, stopping the story and shaking his head at John. "I mean, can't you just get why I don't want him around on our day?"

John nodded. "I get-"

"I mean, what if he starts in on that Princess Shawnie shit again?" Shawn had HATED that nickname with a passion and never ever wanted to hear it again.

"Well you're not as girly as you used to be so I don't think you would have to worry about that."

Shawn's jaw dropped before he made a loud insulted noise and getting up so he could storm off. "What?" John said innocently. "That was a _compliment_!" He sighed as Shawn slammed the door shut behind him. "Shit…that's not good."

…

"You are insane," Ted declared angrily. "Utterly and completely insane. How can you even call yourself a movie fan by saying that?"

Cody rolled his eyes as he played with the neon green crazy straw he was holding. "I don't see why its such a big deal. I think you're being completely overdramatic."

"Overdramatic? You just admitted to not liking The Godfather series? Those were like the best movies ever made!"

"Part two was the best," Evan chimed in. He loved just sitting there and listening to Ted and Cody's discussions while occasionally putting in his two cents.

"I just don't like any of them," Cody said, really annoyed that Ted was acting like he had just punted a puppy across the room. "I mean I've watched all of them because of you but I do not like them. I think they're boring and drawn out and-"

Ted started laughing in disbelief. "Boring? You are on crack my son. Those movies are the greatest-"

"Why is it every time I disagree with you I'm suddenly on crack?" Cody did not want Ted to get started on one of his movie rants and figured that question was the best way to avoid it.

"Well obviously because you smoke crack before daring to open your mouth and disagree with me," Ted replied. He made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. "I mean really, I'm thinking about going to Vince and saying you need-Randy! Tell Cody he's on crack for not agreeing with me about this."

"No," Randy immediately said.

"Why not?"

"Because it's you." He waved Ted and Evan off while Cody laughed. "Now shoo. I gotta talk to Cody alone."

"But we were here first!" Ted whined. He tried to pout to get his way but when Randy just glared at him he sighed in defeat and grabbed Evan's wrist and dragged him away. They didn't go too far of course. They just went minimal safe eavesdropping distance.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Cody asked, shifting around in his spot, unsure of what to make of the look on Randy's face. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Randy quickly assured him. "Nothing's wrong. I just…" He let out a shaky breath and grinned slightly. "I know things haven't been the best between us lately. I mean between drunken hookups and me fucking up by pushing you away…I know I've apologized and all that and now I want to apologize again because um…well I was an idiot that let what Hunter did get in the way of what I really want."

"Good Lord he can ramble," Evan muttered under his breath.

"I know," Ted said with a nod. "That's why we call him Rambo the Rambler."

"Wait, no we don't."

"You're right, we don't. But it sounds good don't it?"

"So what are you saying?" Cody said, suddenly getting very very nervous about where this was going.

"I was hoping that you would accompany me to dinner tonight. You know, on a date."

Cody's eyes widened. He had had a feeling that was where the conversation was going but it was still hard to believe he had just heard it. Randy asking someone out on a date (let alone HIM) was a hard thing to process. "Okay." That agreement came out of instinct more than anything else. "After the show we'll go."

"Okay."

"Yes!" Ted jumped out of his hiding spot and pumped his fist in the air before proceeding to do a victory dance that involved a lot of air humping and spanking.

"Uh…" Cody wasn't sure whether to yell or laugh at Ted.

Randy shook his head. "We don't know him," he declared. "He's just a strange mental patient that we don't have the heart to kick out."

"Oh. Okay. Whatever you say Randy."

…

"So they're FINALLY going on a date?" Jeff said as he, Jay, Adam and Phil all walked towards the parking lot after the show. The others (minus Randy and Cody of course) were meeting them out there so they could all go rent some movies. They would have gone to the theater but every time a large group of them tried to do that, they ended up getting kicked out for being too rowdy.

"Yep," Jay confirmed. "It only took mounds and mounds of persuasion and Phil grabbing his crotch to do it but its finally been done."

Jeff felt the vein by his eye twitch as he looked over at Phil. "You grabbed his crotch?"

"I got caught up in the moment," Phil said sheepishly. "I was trying to motivate him and-"

"So as a motivational speaker you had to grab his crotch? Wow. I'm suddenly worried about all those speakers that go across the country to talk to high school kids."

Phil, Jay and Adam all exchanged glances and shuddered at what it was Jeff was implying. "Well that's wonderful," Phil grumbled. "I've got images of pedophiles groping underage teens dancing in my head. Thanks a lot Hardy."

"You're welcome," Jeff chirped, either completely missing the sarcasm in Phil's voice or ignoring it.

Jay just shook his head before looking back at Adam, who seemed to have an extra bounce in his step. "Where's the baby?" His best friend had been so damn attached to the fake baby he had been carting around that it was now weird to see him without it.

"With Matt," Adam replied. He grinned and gave Jay an excited look. "I think Matt's starting to want a real one."

Jay raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"So I'm going to be an uncle?" Jeff grinned and bounced excitedly.

"Well he hasn't officially given in yet," Adam pointed out. "But he will. I know my Matty and he will give in. He can't win against me."

"Why not?" Phil asked out of pure curiosity.

"Because I'm Adam fucking Copeland. I get my way one way or another."

Jay just chuckled. "That means Uncle Jay and Uncle Jeff get to spoil the hell out of the kid."

"Of course," Adam agreed automatically. "That goes without saying. But uh…don't try to push Matt into giving in. He's gotta do it himself or he'll get all stupid and stubborn and me. So just keep your big mouths shut and its all good. Understand?"

"Yep," Jeff confirmed.

Jay nodded along. "We understand completely."

…

Cody had absolutely no idea where Randy intended on taking him for dinner and Randy actually didn't know himself until after his match, when inspiration had struck him. "Famous Dave's…" Cody read the sign on the building and grinned. "Barbeque huh?"

"Mmhmm," Randy confirmed. "Unless you don't want it of course."

"Nah, I'm good," Cody assured him. "Barbeque is good." He felt his face turn slightly red as Randy held the door open for him and then held his hand all the way over to the table. Once they were seated they browsed their menus and then ordered a few minutes later.

"How much do you want to bet Ted followed us here and is not like watching with a pair of binoculars?" Randy asked jokingly.

"Oh Lord…" Cody began looking around in search of any sign of Ted. He wouldn't put it past DiBiase at all to do that. "I don't see him around…or course that don't mean much. Maybe he finally got better at hiding."

"He didn't do a very good job at it earlier," Randy pointed out.

"Yeah but he felt the need to do a victory dance, so that kind of ruined it."

"Speaking of, I don't think he should be allowed to dance ever again."

"Agreed. And if he tries we shall tie him up and leave him naked in Sheamus's locker room."

Randy chuckled. "Punishment through Casper raping him. That's rather cruel and unusual punishment. You're a man after my own heart Rhodes."

Cody grinned and nodded his thanks at the waitress as she brought them their drinks. "You've rubbed off on me," he pointed out. "Some would say you're a bad influence."

"And what do you say?"

"I say those people who think you're a bad influence can go fuck themselves."

"Nicely put."

"I thought so too." He grabbed his fork and began twirling it around in his fingers. "So um…what exactly made you ask me out? I mean, I've know you for awhile now and you've never gone out on a date in all that time."

"I know," Randy said, leaning back in his seat and drumming his fingers on the table. "I was talking to Phil and Mor and Jay earlier and they helped me to realize that I can't keep letting that shit with Hunter get in the way of what I want. He's an asshole that gets pleasure out of hurting others."

"You can say that again," Cody muttered.

Randy's lips twitched slightly. "And I'm just tired of letting him win. And Phil wouldn't release my crotch until I came to my senses."

Cody's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah uh…he molested me." Randy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I think you should help me kick his ass later."

Cody quickly nodded. "I think so too."

"Or you should molest him and make him feel better!"

Cody groaned and slapped his forehead while Randy's eyes narrowed as he spotted Ted, who just realized he had completely broken his cover yet again with his commentary. "Ted!"

"…What?" Ted said as innocently as he could.

"You've got three seconds to get lost before I come over there and hurt you."

"But-" Ted quickly realized Randy was not joking and booked it out of there as fast as he could.

Cody sighed loudly and shook his head. "I think we need a new friend."

"I think you're right."


	20. Chapter 20

"How could Shawn not invite me to the wedding?" James pouted as Mark dealt out the cards. The two of them, Cooper, Jeff, Glenn and Jay were all about to play poker and James was trying to hold them up with his lamenting over being left out of Shawn and John's wedding. "I mean really, how could he do that? After everything we've been through-"

"Everything you went through?" Glenn stared at James like he had just grown a second head. "Everything you went through? Do you even listen to yourself talk Lawson?"

James glared at him. "What was wrong with what I said?" He looked at Mark who just shook his head.

"Shawn has absolutely no reason to invite you to that wedding. Once upon a time you lived to torture him-"

"But that was like forever ago!" James claimed defensively. "I thought he was all Christian and shit; isn't he supposed to forgive and forget or whatever?"

Mark shrugged while Jeff blinked and Jay snorted. "Well even if he forgave you for that I don't think you would be invited anyway. You're you and…well that about covers it."

That wasn't really the answer James was looking for, but unfortunately, he couldn't really argue against it. And it didn't really feel fair to him. Then again, he was really biased towards himself so that had a lot to do with it.

"I could talk to him and see if he'll change his mind," Jeff volunteered. He could understand Shawn's decision and he would respect it if Shawn really insisted on sticking by it. But he didn't think it would hurt to at least try to get him to change his mind.

James grinned and leaned over so he could give Jeff a kiss. "Thanks babe. At least someone is willing to try for me."

Mark rolled his eyes at the dig James just took at him but kept his mouth shut over it. Saying anything at this point would more than likely result in an argument and that was just something he did not want to deal with at the moment. It was just not worth the headache it would cause.

"Daddy Daddy Daddy!" Connor came sprinting in, literally carrying Evan with him like he was a teddy bear. "Daddy! Can I keep him? Can I keep him can I keep him can I keep him?"

Six pairs of eyes all stared at Connor as he easily kept the struggling Evan under his control. "Can I Daddy?" he asked again impatiently. "Can I keep him?"

"Can you please explain to him that I'm not something he can just keep?" Evan pleaded desperately. "Please?"

"Well you _are_ cute and cuddly," Jay said slowly, making Evan's eyes widen and laughing as he did so. "But yeah, you're not to be kept."

"Yes he is!" Connor insisted. He clutched Evan even tighter and shielded him away from Jay protectively. "He's mine mine mine!"

"Connor…" Jeff said slowly, looking to James to do something. James was too busy looking utterly amused though and while Mark and Glenn just looked exasperated, Cooper actually got up and did something about it.

"Knock it off you little shit!" He smacked Connor upside the head and pried Evan out of his grip. "He's not a pet so you're not keeping him!"

"But Coopy, he's all tiny!" Connor whined. "He can be a little puppy like-OW!" Cooper had just smacked him again. "MEAN!" He kicked Cooper in the shins and took off running as Cooper chased after him.

Evan shook his head and quickly sat down in the chair Cooper had abandoned. "Wow…"

James shook his head and chuckled. "Kids." That was all that he had to say on the matter.

Mark rolled his eyes. "He's not a kid; he's a one man wrecking crew."

"Who thinks he's a kid," Glenn chimed in. "And is probably the most insane out of all you Lawsons."

James glared at Glenn and Jeff quickly grabbed his hand and squeezed it in order to keep him settled down. "Speaking of kids, did I tell you about Matt and Adam-"

"Only about a thousand times," James said with a smirk. "But I thought you said there hasn't been an actual official decision yet."

"Well no…not as far as I know," Jeff admitted. He waved that fact off quickly because it was threatening to spoil his excitement. "But does it matter? I'm going to be an uncle and by association you and Mark get to be uncles too."

"And me," Jay said, not about to be forgotten in this equation. "I've been Adam's best friend for forever. That means I get automatic uncle privileges."

"Well I'll be a better uncle than you," Jeff declared defiantly. Stupid Jay and his need to try to barge in on his uncle territory. He was not about to take that laying down.

Jay snorted. "Oh yeah? You really think that?"

"Yeah, I really do. What could you teach the kid that I couldn't?"

"…How to say no to drugs."

"Ooooohhhhh…" Glenn, Mark and James all said at the same time. Those were fighting words.

Jeff's eyes narrowed and he quickly jumped up and tackled Jay out of his chair so he could get at him. "Guys!" Evan said, quickly jumping up to his feet so he could try to pull them apart. "Don't-" he yelped when he was yanked back into his seat by James. "What-"

"Let them go," James said with a smirk. "As long as Jeff wins, it's just fine with me."

…

"So…I have to say I'm pretty disturbed by this movie," Matt said as he and Adam sat snuggled together on their bed. Buffy was "sleeping" in her little bassinet by the bed and they were watching After Life, which Adam had gotten out of the Red Box at the grocery store.

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "Me too." He snuggled even closer to Matt and rested his head on his chest. "I'm not trusting any undertaker ever again. Not ever ever ever."

Matt's lips twitched in amusement. "What about Mark?"

"He's not a real undertaker so he don't count," Adam said dismissively. "And what is up with Christina Ricci's constant nudity in this? Do we really need it?"

Matt shrugged. "According to the people who made this movie? Yes we do." He began playing with Adam's hair. "I'd rather see you naked right now of course…"

"Well why didn't you say something sooner?" Adam snatched up the remote and stopped the movie so he could roll on top of Matt and not miss anything. "I would have gladly stripped for you." He began trying to get his shirt off when Buffy decided to rear her plastic head and cry loudly.

"Oh boy…" Matt groaned as Adam got off of him and went over to their fake love child to comfort her.

"Ssshhh come on Baby Buffy, don't cry," Adam cooed. "You need me to feed you, is that it? Or do you need a diaper change?"

"She can't actually tell you," Matt reminded him. "She-"

"I know I know. She's a baby she can't talk. But I like to pretend so zip it Matthew."

Matt chuckled at Adam's defensiveness and grabbed a nearby rubber band so he could use it to pull his hair back into a ponytail. "If you're like this over this fake baby I can't imagine what it'll be like when we have an actual one of our own."

"I-wait, did you just say "when" we have an actual one?" Adam was jumping all over getting that one clarified. "Did you say that or did I hear things?"

"I said it," Matt assured him. "You didn't hear things, I actually said it."

Adam stared at Matt for a very long moment before letting out a celebratory whoop and dive bombing on top of Matt so he could plant a big kiss on his lips. "I love you I love you I love you," he declared happily. "Do you have any idea how happy you just made me?"

"Do you have any idea how man of my ribs you might have just broke?" Matt replied, holding his sternum gingerly while wheezing for breath.

"Oh shut up, I didn't hurt you that bad," Adam said with a shake of his head. He gave Matt one more kiss before getting back off the bed. "I gotta go call Jay."

"Already?"

"Yeah. I knew you would change your mind so now it's time to spread the good news."

Matt chuckled at Adam's enthusiasm before grabbing a magazine to look through as he waited. He had always known this was a big deal to Adam but it took him until just now to realize how much this meant to him too. Before he had been scared about not being ready but now he realized he was-or at least as ready as he was ever going to be. _Now to figure out if we're going to adopt a boy or a girl…._He was leaning more towards a boy but he knew himself well enough to know he would agree to a girl if Adam really wanted one-so long as she wasn't actually named Buffy.

…

"Think Ted has binoculars spying on us?" Cody joked as Randy kissed his way all across his neck. Dinner was over and they had been just driving around until Randy had pulled over up on top of a hill that was apparently make-out central for the teenagers that lived in the area. Cody hadn't seen any other cars around them yet and right now he wasn't really looking too hard. He was more than a little preoccupied with his own activities.

"He better not be," Randy said as he took Cody's shirt and tossed it up to the passenger's seat. He ran his large hands across Cody's chest, smirking as he shivered at the contact. "Although I wouldn't put it past him. He could be watching us right now with binoculars in one hand and another hand rubbing his little dick-"

"Whoa! Let's stop with that visual." That was not something Cody was looking to picture in his brain. "I'd rather think about your dick than his."

"I would hope so, seeing as how you're about to get it." Randy arched his hips up so Cody could feel his hard on through his jeans. Cody sighed happily and started grinding himself against it, relishing in the low groan he got out of Randy. "This must go," he said as he grabbed the hem of Randy's shirt. "Arms up."

Randy complied, allowing Cody to take his shirt off for him. "You know, I've fucked a lot of people in the backseats of cars."

Cody (who had been going to kiss Randy once again) stopped and shook his head. "Uh…okay…" He wasn't sure what to say because he wasn't quite sure what Randy was getting at.

Randy sensed that and quickly kept talking. "But I've never fucked anyone on a hood of a car…well not since senior prom and not on a rental." His eyes flashed mischievously. "You up for it?"

Cody raised his eyebrows. "Wouldn't the rental company get pissed at cum stains on the hood?"

"Wouldn't they get pissed with cum stains here in the backseat?"

Game point Randy. Cody was out of the car so fast that he nearly fell face first on the ground. "Careful," Randy said, catching Cody before he hit and turning him around so they could look eye to eye. "You good?"

"Better than good," Cody replied. He wrapped his arms around Randy's neck and jumped up so he could wrap his legs around his waist as well. "Although you could make me feel even better." He pressed his lips against Randy's, loving the way Randy immediately took charge and dominated it while carrying him over to the hood of the car and laying him down on top of him. It felt extremely cool against his flushed flesh but it wasn't something he had a lot of time to dwell on. Randy had his hand on his jean covered crotch and was rubbing him, making his cock spring up to life instantly. "Oooh fuck Randy, don't tease," he begged. He was rubbing back against Randy's hand, desperate for actual contact.

"I'm not teasing," Randy claimed as he rubbed just a tad bit harder. "I'm just getting you warmed up." He rubbed Cody just a few seconds longer before unbuttoning his jeans and moving the zipper down with his teeth. Cody's breath caught in his throat as he felt Randy's hot breath on his crotch. He wanted to beg for him to go faster but he had seemingly lost the ability to speak. Not that it would have really done him much good anyway. Randy was content on taking his sweet time and would not be rushed for anything.

"Throw these here…" Randy tossed Cody's pants up on the roof of the car so they wouldn't get dirty on the ground. Cody was now left in his boxers and Randy chuckled at the tent that was pitched in them. "Well look at this. Did I do that?"

Cody could only nod.

"I should really take care of it then, shouldn't I?" Without waiting for an answer Randy put his mouth around the cotton covered erection and sucked hard, making Cody moan loudly. "Hmmm…yeah, these are a problem too," Randy decided out loud. He bit down on the waistband of Cody's boxers and took them off that way, which just served to get Cody even harder than before.

Randy tossed the boxers on to the top of the car as well and then just stared at Cody, drinking in the sight of him for a few moments. Cody was in desperate need at this point and he tried to grab Randy to pull him on top of him but Randy wasn't having that. "Randy please," Cody begged. "Come on, I-"

"Ssshhh." Randy shushed Cody with a gentle kiss. "I want to play a bit." He kissed his way down Cody's body, deliberately stopping before he got to Cody's cock. "Suck," he ordered, putting two of his fingers up to Cody's mouth.

Cody grabbed on to his wrist and sucked on the digits eagerly, getting them nice and wet before Randy took them out. Randy nodded his approval before gently sliding them in, holding down Cody's hips with his other hand so he couldn't arch them too high.

"Mmm fuck!" Cody moved back against Randy's fingers as much as he possibly could. Randy's fingers were brushing against his prostate, sending bolts of pleasure though his body. He wanted more than them though. They felt good and all but feeling Randy's cock inside of him was what he really needed.

Randy scissored his fingers apart and watched as Cody writhed and moaned on the hood of the car. He looked so desperate and needy that it was making Randy harder and harder by the second. "Tell me what you want me to do," he said, fingering Cody harder to help get the response he wanted to hear.

"Fuck me," Cody moaned automatically, not wasting a second of time. He wanted to cum very very badly but he didn't want it to be just because of Randy's fingers. "Fuck me Randy. I need you to fuck me."

That was good enough for Randy. He quickly got rid of his jeans and underwear and tossed them carelessly, not giving a shit where they landed. He quickly climbed on top of Cody, wrapping his legs around him and stroking his cock a couple of times before pushing it into his tight entrance.

"Oh fuck!" Cody practically screamed while Randy moaned and stopped to give them both a moment to adjust. "Fuck Randy! So fucking big." He latched his lips onto Randy's and moved against him desperately, causing Randy to start thrusting hard and fast. "Mmmm fuck! Harder please…ooh fuck, fuck me harder!"

Randy pounded into Cody harder, spurred on by every scream and moan that came out of the younger man's mouth. Cody was so worked up to begin with that it only took a few good hard thrusts to make him cum and the way his walls squeezed around Randy's cock made Randy cum as well after a little bit more thrusting. "Fuck, Cody…"

Cody started to say something but then they both heard a loud siren go off and they both looked over to see a cop get out of his car. "Oh….fuck…."


	21. Chapter 21

"_Noooo!" Ted screamed as he ran away from the giant marshmallow chased him around in circles. He had entered the store looking for Fruity Pebbles goodness but then had run into a giant evil marshmallow that was looking to steal his soul before he ever got to his precious cereal. "Go away! Go away go away!" He grabbed a random box off the shelf and chucked it at the evil marshmallow. The box simply bounced off it's fat puffy body and it laughed at his attempt to hurt it._

"_Mallow hungry!" the thing exclaimed as it opened its jaws real wide. "Mallow eat you!" It lunged forward, just milimeters away from swallowing him whole._

"NOOOOOO!" Ted screamed as he woke up so violently he fell off the bed. He looked around wildly, expecting to see the marshmallow there trying to eat him. Thankfully though, it wasn't there. He let out a huge sigh of relief. That marshmallow thing was the last thing he had wanted to deal with. It had been pure evil and didn't deserve to exist at all.

He got himself untangled from his blankets and tossed them back up on the bed before getting up himself. He was about to get back into bed himself when his phone went off. "Ugh…" He grabbed it and answered it, although he did come close to just ignoring the call. "Hello?"

"Yo it's me." The "me" was James and he sounded wide awake, which just baffled Ted given what time it was.

"What do you want?" he asked as he barely stifled a yawn.

"I need help sneaking into Shawn and John's wedding."

"…You weren't invited?" Ted laid down on the bed and let his eyes slip close. Hopefully he could get back to sleep without having anymore nightmares like the one he had just had.

"No." James sounded way beyond miffed about that fact. "I wasn't. And it's not fair Teddy. I want to get into that wedding."

"You want me to talk to Shawn?" Ted's voice was starting to get all light and drifty because he really was drifting off to sleep.

"No. I need you to help me sneak into the damn wedding," James said impatiently. "Weren't you just listening?"

"Oh. Sorry." Ted didn't actually mean it. He was just talking and not really even listening to what was coming out of his mouth. "I'll help you then."

"You will?" James sounded kind of surprised. He had been expecting more of a fight really.

"Mhm. Just let me go sleepy bye." In the very very back of Ted's mind he knew that he was probably going to regret this later but at the moment he really didn't care. If agreeing to this would make it so James left him alone so he could go back to sleep then he would do it.

"Fine. Go sleepy bye and I'll talk to you later."

"Mmm…" Ted hung up without any other warning and tossed the phone aside. He rolled over on to his side and curled up into the fetal position, completely passed out once more in a matter of a couple of seconds.

….

Randy looked back and forth between Cody and the cop, who was obviously a young rookie and was just as embarrassed as he and Cody were about this whole situation. If he himself wasn't so mortified by the situation he would have busted up laughing over the look on the other two's faces. "Um…Officer we really are sorry about this," he finally said. He figured an apology was a good way to start off this conversation. He was looking for him and Cody to avoid getting in any major trouble at all costs.

"Yeah," Cody quickly agreed. His face was more red than some tomatoes could ever hope to get. "We really are. We were just on a date and um…well things just kind of went uh…"

"Yeah, I get the picture," the cop said quickly. "I do…" A long awkward silence followed that statement. "Look, I was looking to break-up teenagers that were doing this," the cop confessed, his eyes darting back and forth between Cody and Randy nervously. "Or teenagers like drinking and smoking pot. But you're um…you're not teenagers."

"No," Randy confirmed. "We're not."

"You don't have any pot do you?"

"Of course not," Cody quickly assured him. Like they would tell him anything else.

"Okay…look, this is awkward and I'll just give you a warning and then we'll go our separate ways. Does that sound fair to you?"

"Yes Officer," Randy and Cody said at the same time. Randy didn't know whether the guy really embarrassed about finding two grown ups up here or it was because it was to grown _males_…either way, it wasn't working against them so they were going to go with it.

"Thank you!" Cody said as they got back in the car and drove off. For a few minutes they sat in silence, Cody still blushing and fiddling with the radio and Randy just staring straight ahead, biting on his lower lip and eventually busting up laughing because he couldn't take the awkward silence anymore.

"I'm glad you find it so funny," Cody said as Randy laughed away, tears springing up behind his eyes he was laughing so hard.

"Oh come on, it's funny!" Randy said as he gasped for breath.

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is!"

"We were busted by a cop. How was that funny?"

"Because we were busted by a twitchy rookie that obviously didn't know whether to scold us or ask to join in."

Cody's face twitched. "He was not looking to ask to join in."

"I'm pretty sure he popped a boner when he caught us."

"I'm pretty sure you're just being a crude bitch because we got off with a warning."

"A crude bitch? Is that what you think of me?"

"Maybe. But if I do, you're my crude bitch so it's okay." Cody leaned over and gave Randy a kiss on the cheek. "Let's just never get caught by a cop again. That was about as bad as being caught by our parents."

"But not worse than being caught by our friends," Randy pointed out.

Cody paled at that. "Oh God. We can NOT tell them about this. They'll never shut the fuck up about it."

Randy nodded in agreement. As funny as the cop thing was, their friends finding out about it would be beyond not good or funny. The tormenting would never ever stop if this incident became known to them. "We take this to our grave," he declared with a nod. "That sound good to you?"

Cody blinked and slowly shook his head. "Well…I would have gone with a saying that was a little less dire but okay. We take it to the grave."

"And if anyone else finds out about it, we kill them before they tell Ted."

"And if Ted's the one that finds out?"

"Well then we kill him. Swift justice, Orton and Rhodes style."

Cody snorted and rolled his eyes at that. That was so corny and bad that he almost didn't believe it came out of Randy's mouth.

Randy noticed that reaction and shook his head. "You didn't like that?"

Cody shook his head. "That was bad. Like worse than what Ted wanted to call his Marine movie."

"What did he want to call that?"

"The Marine 2: Let Me Show You How It's Done Bitches."

That was followed by a very very long silence before Randy had to literally pull the car over so they could laugh until they cried and not wreck in the process.

…

"Jeff, for the last time, I'm NOT changing my mind about this," Shawn said for what felt like the hundredth time in the past half hour. Jeff was trying to plead James's case to get invited to the wedding but Shawn wasn't buying into any of it. He had too many bad James experiences to even consider having him at the wedding.

"But he'll be good!" Jeff insisted, like Shawn would actually believe that one for a second. "He will. Mark and I will make sure of it."

"No."

"But Shawn-"

"Jeff are you forgetting this is my wedding?" Shawn folded his arms across his chest and shook his head slowly. "And that I don't have to invite anyone that I don't want to?"

Jeff sighed and put his hands on his hips and pouted his lips. He hadn't forgotten that but he wasn't letting facts like that discourage him. "Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"No."

"Please-"

"NO!"

"You suck!" Jeff declared, stomping his foot and turning his head away in a show of anger. Now normally he was used to getting his way when he did that but Shawn wasn't going for it like a good boy. He was a prima donna himself so he was immune to Jeff's ways.

"Yes I do," he admitted proudly. "And I do it quite well if I may add." He chuckled at the look on Jeff's face and patted his shoulder. "I love you man but keep Lawson away from my wedding. Okay?"

Jeff sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Fine." He wasn't one for giving up like this but he really had no other choice. Fighting with Shawn was a lost cause and he was just going to have to somehow learn to accept defeat.

"Good boy." Shawn patted Jeff on the head and walked off so he could go back to his locker room. Before he got even halfway there though, he felt someone grab his arm and yank him into one of the other room. "What the-"

"Ssshhh!" A large hand went over his mouth and Shawn only slightly relaxed; it was Hunter, who he did know very well and that's why he couldn't relax completely. "We need to talk."

Shawn shook his head and wiggled out of Hunter's grip. "Dude, don't do that!" he said in exasperation. He smoothed his shirt down and shook his head angrily. "What is with you you lummox?"

"We need to talk," Hunter repeated. "And did you just call me a lummox?"

"Yes I did," Shawn confirmed.

"Why?"

"Because you're a lummox. Now what do you want?" Shawn was not someone that liked to be kept waiting, especially when he wanted answers.

"The wedding. You can't go through with it."

Shawn groaned loudly. "Not again Hunter." They had had this conversation way WAY too many times before and he was absolutely sick of it. "We've been through this before and you _know_ my answer."

"You're making a mistake."

"How? How am I making a mistake?" Shawn folded his arms across his chest and looked at Hunter expectantly. "I love John. John loves me. We want to be together forever. How is getting married a mistake?"

"I love you," Hunter said lowly, grabbing on to Shawn's arms and unfolding them so he could pull him closer. "I've always loved you."

Shawn shook his head. He couldn't trust that. Hunter loved playing games. It was what he did. He loved to control, he loved playing with people's minds and fucking them over; it was his addiction. Even if he actually loved him Shawn didn't delude himself to think he would be safe from that. "I don't love you Hunter. Can't you understand that? I love John, not you. I'm sorry okay? But it's just how it is."

Hunter shook his head, just not wanting to accept that at all. When Shawn tried to walk away he pulled him back and smashed his lips against his. Shawn's eyes widened and he was so shocked that he couldn't even pull away at first, which allowed Hunter to shove his tongue into his mouth. That snapped him out of it though and Shawn shoved Hunter away and slapped the younger man across the face as hard as he could. Hunter's eyes widen and before he could react Shawn had stormed off, slamming the door shut behind him.


	22. Chapter 22

John hummed under his breath as stretched for his match against Miz later that night. With the wedding so close and both he and Shawn having a good relationship with Vince, the both of them were going to get some time off until they got back from their honeymoon. They were going to film an injury angle for him tonight and he wasn't sure what they were doing for Shawn yet. Shawn was supposed to meet Vince at some point and find out. Whatever happened though, he was way way more focused on trying to contain the butterflies that were in his stomach. It seemed that as the big day got closer and closer, the butterflies not only got bigger but they increased in number.

He took several deep breaths before stopping with the stretching and grabbing his bottle of water. He heard the door open but he didn't turn around to see who it was until he popped the top of his bottle and took a big drink from it. He expected the other person to address him first but they didn't. His brow furrowed a bit and he looked back to see Shawn standing there behind him. "Hey babe." He took a step forward so he could embrace it but he stopped in his tracks when he saw the look on Shawn's face. "Babe? What's the matter?"

Shawn shook his head. He was going to tell John about what had happened at some point but now wasn't the best time. It would only cause major major problems and that wouldn't do them any good at all.

"Shawn come on, you can tell me." John didn't want to push too hard but the vibes he was getting from Shawn indicated that whatever happened had not been good. "Did someone hurt you or something?"

"No," Shawn said with a shake of his head. "Nothing like that. It was just…I don't think it's a good idea to tell you right now."

"Why not?"

"Because it will piss you off and if that affects the show Vince will get all sorts of pissed off."

That was a good point that John couldn't deny, although he did search his brain a bit to see if he could come up with an argument about telling him now that could beat that one. When he couldn't, he sighed and admitted defeat for the moment. "After the show," he said. "Tell me, okay?"

"Okay," Shawn agreed. "I will. When we get back to the hotel I will. Promise."

…

"So it's a no go for James at the wedding?" Cody asked as he leaned back against one of the lockers. He was in Jeff's dressing room with him, Adam and Mor and he was already changed in his gear so he was ready in plenty of time before he had to go out for his match. He had wanted to spend time with Randy but it had been found that the longer they were around each other, the less likely it was that they were able to keep their hands off each other so in a rare moment of being level headed, they decided to stay apart until the show was over. He did feel bad though, mainly because now Randy had to deal with Ted all on his own. He was about the only one that had any patience for that and even he wasn't sure how he did it. He needed some kind of award for it though.

"That's what Shawn says," Jeff said with a sigh. He was rolling up gum wrappers and flicking them at Mor, aiming to get them in his hair just because he felt like being annoying like that. "But I don't think James is going to accept that."

"Not accept it?" Adam shook his head and looked up from his phone, which he was using to text Matt every couple of seconds. "Dude, I know you're all for the psychopath but this is Shawn's wedding. You gotta tell him he just needs to get over it."

"I tried," Jeff claimed. "And his mouth accepted it but his eyes didn't. He's plotting something." He flicked another wrapper at Mor's head, grinning triumphantly as it got caught in his hair. "Mark thinks he is too and he's trying to get him to stop whatever he's up to. I don't think it's working out so well for him though."

"And that's a surprise?" Mor started trying to brush all the shit Jeff had gotten in his hair out. "And QUIT with that would ya? Freaking asshole."

"Oh come on, you know you love me," Jeff said with a big "innocent" grin.

Mor rolled his eyes and gave him a very annoyed look. "Yeah, right. I just loooove you."

"Don't you feel great admitting it?" Either Jeff was ignoring the pure sarcasm in his tone or he was ignoring it.

Cody snickered at the look on Mor's face and then looked at Adam. "So what's the deal with you and Matt and the baby?"

"We're meeting up with someone from the adoption agency the day after tomorrow," Adam told him. "Matt's been all over me telling me this could be a longer process than I want and I have to have patience and blah blah blah. I keep trying to tell him I heard him the first time he said it but he's not listening."

"Matt's bad at that," Jeff said wisely. "Just smack him upside his dumb thick head. That's what I do."

"That wouldn't count as spousal abuse?"

"Not if he's being a retard."

"Oh that's a lovely way to talk about your brother," Mor said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well it's the truth," Jeff said with a shrug. He didn't see why Mor would try to make it into a big deal. "But enough about him." His attention went to Cody. "What about you and Randy? How are things between you guys?"

Cody felt his face start turning red immediately. "Good."

"Awww you're blushing!" Jeff elbowed Adam in the ribs and pointed at Cody. "You see that Addy? He's blushing!"

"I see it," Adam said as he elbowed Jeff back. "And don't call me Addy!"

"Whatever Addy." Jeff hopped up to his feet and put his arm around Cody's shoulder. "So how big is his dick?"

If Cody's face wasn't red enough before, it certainly was now. "Jeff!"

"Dude, do you gotta be vulgar?" Mor asked.

"Oh shut up you priss." Jeff flipped him the bird before shaking Cody lightly. "Come on man, is he big? How many times have you fucked? How would you rate him in the sack?"

"Why are you asking me these things?" Cody asked. He was so embarrassed right now that his voice came out in one giant squeak. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because we're friends!" Jeff said brightly. "And friends tell each other these things. I mean I've shared stuff about James and Mark-"

"Stuff none of us wanted to know about," Mor interjected. "In case you forgot, NONE of us asked for those details."

"Yeah really," Adam agreed. "Mark is Mark and we never want to know about him and James scares the fucking shit out of us."

"He's not THAT bad…" Jeff shrugged, knowing he was not convincing any one of them. "You guys just aren't used to him. He's better once you get used to him I swear."

…

"Lawson! God damn it WHY aren't you at the hotel?" Mark asked James angrily. He had caught James tormenting the production crew and just about hit the roof. James had a lifetime ban for any and all WWE events because of stunts like this and if he was caught back here, it would be him getting in trouble as well because he was supposed to "control" James. Control…ha. He wished he could control James. It would make his life a whole lot easier.

"Because I don't wanna be," James replied with a pout. "It's BORING there and it's not like I'm-OW!" Mark had grabbed a hold of his wrist and was dragging him along like a child now. "Fuck Mark let go!" He was hamming it up some but Mark's grip on him was tighter than it really needed to be.

"And what are you going to do if I let go?" Mark ask. "You going to be good?"

"Yes…"

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Because you're an idiot." James wrenched himself out of Mark's grasp. "And don't fucking do that! I'm not a child!"

"Well if you wouldn't act like one-"

"Am I supposed to act like a cranky old man like you?" James asked. He made a face and let out a loud snort. "No thanks. I like the way I am. Now if you'll excuse me I have that Ted boy to find."

"Oh hell no." Mark grabbed James by the arm this time and pulled him back before he could go too far. "You are NOT teaming up with that dumbass." He could only imagine the shit that would go down if those two paired off. Ted was far from the brightest bulb in the bunch and James would exploit that and cause all kind of mayhem because of it.

James rolled his eyes and once again yanked himself out of Mark's grasp. "But we've got plans to make," he informed him. "Very important plans. That like can't wait."

"Oh yeah? And what are those plans?"

"I'm not telling you. You'll ruin them."

Mark knew that that meant they weren't anything good and he tried yet again to get James. James though, jumped back and took off running, which made Mark groan loudly.

"Lawson PLEASE! I don't want to chase you!" He started going after him as fast as his bad knees would allow him to go. "Fucking hell just kill me now."

…

Once Raw went off the air Hunter found himself in an impromptu meeting with Vince that ran on for longer than he wanted it to. Once it was over he went to his private dressing room, intending on changing real quick so he could drop his stuff off at the hotel and go out and get some drinks. What he wasn't counting on was one very angry John Cena waiting for him when he got to his room. Before he could even start to react to seeing him John had him by the throat and was slamming him up against the wall.

"What the-"

"Shut up." John's voice actually came out as a growl, which threw Hunter for a big loop. In the years he had known John he had never heard him like this before. "Just shut your big mouth for once and listen to me."

Hunter tried to say something just to be difficult but John's grip on his throat tightened and prevented that. "I don't know WHAT your issue is anymore and you know what? I don't care. I really fucking don't. Shawn and I are getting married. We love each other very much. Now I don't know if you actually do love Shawn or not because quite frankly, you never seem to have any real emotions besides greed and anger. Tell me, is your so called love for Shawn real or is it because he's the one person you never got the chance to play like you wanted to? You fucked Randy up beyond belief, God only knows how Stephanie puts up with you…"

Hunter made a choked noise and tried to get himself out of John's grip. John tightened his hold even more and slammed him against the wall one more time just for good measure. "You ever-EVER-put ANY of your parts on Shawn again that's not for a match, I will rip them off of you and beat in your face in. You understand me?" He waited until Hunter forced a short nod before letting him go and storming out without another word.

Hunter coughed loudly and held his throat, gasping for breath and completely bewildered by what had just happened. Did he really just get threatened and throttled by Mr. Goody Two Shoes himself? _Fucking Cena…fucking fucking asshole…_


	23. Chapter 23

"Teeeddddy boy," James called out in a sing song voice. He had easily escaped Mark (thanks to Mark's ever shitty knees and hips) and was now on the search for the one and only Ted DiBiase Jr. "Come on out Teeeeeddddyyyy. Come out come out wherever you are." He was starting to get really impatient with this whole hunting process. "Where are you you dumb bastard?" He started opening doors at random, hoping to find the younger man in one of them. The first he opened was a janitor's closet so no luck there. The next led him to a room where two guys he didn't even know were playing poker. "Damn it all to hell." He closed that door and opened the next room, totally not reading the sign and totally not realizing it was the diva's locker room until he came face to face with Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres as they were changing.

"Oh my God!" Eve shouted as Kelly just screamed in surprise.

"WHOA!" James quickly slapped his hand over his eyes. "Uh…"

"Who the hell are you? Get out!"

"Do you want me to answer the question first and then go or do you just want me to make with the go-OW!" He got hit in the stomach with what felt like a shampoo bottle. "Okay okay! I'm going!" He tried to leave the room with his hand still over his eye and ended up running right into the wall. "Mother fucker cock sucking bastard!" He kicked the wall in frustration and peeked his eyes out through his fingers so he could actually see his way out the door. "Note to self: read signs on the door…"

"Isn't that always a good idea?"

James grinned as he turned to look at the owner of that voice. "Nattie!"

"Hey Uncle James." Natalya wrapped her arms around him and gave him the good old fashioned bear hug that she seemed to just love giving to him. He was the god father of a good amount of the Hart children yet they all called him "Uncle James". It was fitting really, especially considering that Cooper and Connor called Bret (and Owen before he died) "uncle". "What are you doing here? Where's Mark and his short leash?"

James made a face at that. "Don't even get me started on that."

"Uh oh." Nattie made a face. "Are you two fighting again?"

"Well he's not here so not at the moment. But I can guarantee you there will be one later."

"What happened now?"

"He fucking has been trying to treat me like I'm a child. I'm not a fucking child."

"Yeah really. You're many decades older than any child."

He glared at her for that. "Oh yes, let's make age jokes. That's just really nice."

"Aw come on now." She punched his shoulder gently. "Let's be real here. If I didn't know how old you really were I would say you didn't look a day over thirty." That was the truth. James looked _years_ younger than he actually was and he sure as hell didn't act his age. Most of the time he acted even younger than he looked.

"Thanks Nat." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around. "You've seen Ted anywhere?"

Her brows furrowed a bit. "Why are you looking for him?"

"He's going to help me get into Shawn and John's wedding."

"You're not invited?" She smirked. "I'm not surprised."

"Oh shut up."

"Why do you even want to go? I didn't think you cared too much for either one of them."

"I don't but since I wasn't invited now I _have_ to go."

"Just to be a pain in the ass?"

"Yep!"

Natalya could only roll her eyes. What could she even say to that?

"Now do you-ha! There he is!" James bounded off and snagged the younger man from behind, holding him tight so he didn't get an elbow to the face or anything. "You!"

"What the hell?" Ted said, looking at James in shock. "What are you doing?"

"Catching you," James replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You promised to help me get into John and Shawn's wedding."

"Wha-oh yeah." Ted's eyes widened as he remembered that.

"Yep." James tightened his grip and smiled. To an outside observer it would appear he was being extra friendly but to Ted, there was more than a little bit of a threat to it. "So how about we start bouncing ideas off each other buddy?"

"Right now?"

"Uh huh. Unless you have somewhere more important to be."

"Uh…no, I'm good." Ted swallowed nervously while looking to Natalya for help. She wasn't offering any though. She just shook her head and checked around to make sure Mark or Vince weren't coming around. "I was um…I was thinking maybe you could be disguised as a caterer-"

"Which would work fine with the reception," James interrupted. "But uh…what would the caterer be doing at the actual wedding?"

"Uh…I don't know?" Ted was having a hard time keeping his voice normal. James could be intimidating without trying and when he did try, it really was something scary. He towered nearly a foot above Ted's head and he was built like a damn truck. If he was so inclined, he could easily pick Ted right up and break him in half and he would probably find it funny. "Maybe uh…we disguise you as an old man? You know like uh…we get make-up and prosthetics and put you in a wheelchair and say you're my grandpa that I have to take care of for the day."

James raised his eyebrows and thought that one over. "Hmmm…I like it." He let go of Ted and patted him on the head. "Good job Teddy." He started smoothing down his shirt. "I'll leave you to get all those fun materials together and stuff and get back to you." He tapped the side of Ted's face twice before walking off, leaving Ted to let out a long sigh and lean back against the wall.

Natalya chuckled lowly and shook her head. "What are you going to say to Shawn if he finds out and wants to kill you?"

Ted licked his lower lip and held up two fingers. "Two words: self preservation."

"…Yeah that one should work."

"It better. If not, I'll run and use Cody as a human shield. You know, whatever works."

…

Hunter sat alone at the bar, nursing a drink in his hand. He had been doing that ever since the confrontation with John after the last Raw. It bothered him greatly that he had been threatened by goody two shoes Cena. Then again, given that everything involving Cena had been bothering him lately, that wasn't too unusual. "Fucker," he muttered under his breath. He took a long drink of his whiskey and curled his lip in disgust. Good boys like Cena had always gotten on his nerves. Hunter was the type to love finding flaws in people and exploiting them to his advantage. It was a game to him, one that he had perfected over the years. Take Randy for example. The kid's ego had always been one of his main flaws, so Hunter had built him up and then tore him down quite viciously. John though, he didn't have the kind of flaw that was any good to exploit. He was genuinely a nice guy, he worked his ass off, he did all sorts of things for the kids and soldiers, and there was just so much more but he wasn't going to keep thinking like that since it would just make him gag.

Professionally, he didn't have a problem with John. Given that he and Stephanie were set to take the WWE empire one day, John was the kind of guy he knew he would need around. He had his share of haters but the kids loved him and the parents were more than happy to buy his merchandise for their kids. He equaled money. But personally, he wanted his head on a stick and he wanted it in the worst way.

It all came down to Shawn. The one person Hunter wanted but couldn't have. Shawn had been his friend for over a decade and knew the games he had played on people. Back in the old days, it had never bothered him. He had hated everyone and everything, including himself. But once he left and found religion, he had become a new man. Sure he had made sure to try to stay friends with Hunter, given everything Hunter had done for him in the past, but the relationship was different. They had gone through periods of estrangement over the things Hunter had done. And now he would never be with Hunter the way Hunter wanted him to. Despite how hard Hunter tried to prove himself, Shawn could never trust him in that way.

And then fucking Cena…fucking perfect goody two shoes Cena just ruined things even more. Something had to be done. But what? That was what Hunter was trying to figure out. It crossed his mind to put some steroids in his drink and have him fail a wellness test and get him in trouble with Vince. Only problem was, he knew that Shawn knew John didn't take steroids, plus he had used that method to get someone else in trouble in the past. Shawn would figure out it was him. No, if he was going to do something, he had to do something new and different.

"Ah hell." He finished his drink and got up to his feet, feeling a bit wobbly. He had had more than what he needed to while he had been there. Part of him wanted to stay and have even more but the other part of him was ready to go. He knew Shawn was having some sort of bachelor party tonight and he was going to find out where. He would talk to him again. Make him listen better this time. And if that didn't work…well…he would figure it the hell out from there.

…

"So why exactly are John and I having separate bachelor parties?" Shawn asked because he still had figured that one out. He had been intending to just have one party for the both of them but before he knew it, his friends had hijacked his own party from him. He had Jeff, Mor, Mark, Jeff, Adam, Phil, Matt and Cody all in a car with him, on their way to a location that he didn't know yet. Evan and Jay had an autograph signing so they couldn't be there, James wasn't invited, Ted was AWOL and Randy was keeping John company.

"Because that's the way it has to be done," Jeff insisted. "Who the hell has a bachelor party with their fiancé? That's not just done man."

"I thought you were all about doing stuff that's not done."

"Well yeah sometimes. But this isn't one of them. Besides, once you're married, you'll have all the time in the world to do things with each other! This is your hurrah with all of us."

"Your last chance to have real fun," Mor piped in. "Because once you're married you're going to be all boring and shit."

"Isn't he kind of boring now?" Adam asked. He was joking but it still made Shawn turn around in his seat and glare at him.

"I am not boring!" He started to turn back around but then stopped when the thought began to worry him. "Am I?"

"Adam dear, you weren't supposed to tell him that," Matt said in a loud fake whisper. It was too much fun to fuck with Shawn to pass this opportunity up. "His old fragile mind can't take it."

"Oh fuck off you assholes!" Shawn turned all the way back around and made an angry face. "I should kick you all in the face when we get out of the car."

Mark chuckled lowly and turned into the parking lot. "Well get that foot ready sexy boy because we're here."

"And where is here exactly?" Shawn asked, already opening the door so he could get out. "How do we have a bachelor party if the guest of honor doesn't even-oh you have to be kidding me." He blinked furiously and rubbed his eyes, hoping he wasn't seeing what he thought he was. He was though. His friends had taken him to a strip club and he couldn't even begin to be surprised. "Why-"

"Well where else are you supposed to have a bachelor party?" Jeff asked.

"Maybe somewhere that's not a strip club?"

"Oh Shawn…" Jeff shook his head and patted his shoulder. "You're so silly!"

Shawn sighed as everyone but Phil took off ahead of him. This clearly wasn't supposed to be for him. This was for them, which was a little messed up in his book given that this was his party.

"If it makes you feel any better, I tried to tell them no," Phil said with a sigh. "But I got overruled."

"I have no doubt about that. Thanks for trying though."

"Any time."

…

"You didn't have to stay with me tonight you know," John said as he and Randy loaded the beer into the car. They had eaten at Taco Bell a little bit ago and they had just gotten done getting some beer from the store so they could drink it while watching some basketball. "You could have gone with the others."

"You're right," Randy admitted. He got into the car and waited for John to get into the driver's seat before continuing on. "But you're my best friend so I stayed with you."

"Well thank you," John said. He started the car and checked around to make sure no other cars were coming before pulling out of their parking space. "I appreciate that."

"Besides, I have to plan your bachelor party anyway."

"Right, of course. No strip club."

Randy's head snapped in his direction. "But-"

"No strip club," John repeated.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like them. They're skeezy."

"First of all, not all of them are skeezy. Believe me, I know."

John snorted a bit. "Yeah, I'm well aware of that."

"Oh shut up."

"But you-"

"Ah da da da!" Randy held up his hand until John fell silent. "That's better." He put his hand back down. "Now I'll have you know that since I'm planning this thing, you don't get a say in it. You just need to show up."

"Uh…yeah, I want to object to that," John said with a slow nod. "I'm not going to have fun at a strip club."

"Well what if we brought the strippers to the hotel room?"

John had to take a deep breath and count to ten before addressing that one. "What is it with you and strippers? Why can't I have a non-stripper bachelor party?"

"Because that just does not work!" Randy replied. "It's like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter. Or the jelly. Either way, it don't work." He watched John roll his eyes with a frown. "Do you have some unknown problem with strippers? Is that it? Do you discriminate against strippers?"

"No I don't," John said, trying to keep his eyes on the road instead of Randy. "I just only need one person taking their clothes off and grinding all up on me and that's Shawn."

"Wow…that's sweet and delightfully vomit inducing."

John's eye twitched. "Delightfully vomit inducing? What the fuck does that even mean?"

"Uh…honestly? I don't really know. I heard Ted say it once."

"You spend too much time with him."

"Yeah I-JOHN!"

John didn't even have time to react. A car smashed into them on his side so hard they went off the road and crashed into the nearest tree. He heard glass breaking, himself and Randy screaming before his head bounced violently off the side of the car and he slumped over unconscious.


	24. Chapter 24

"Now was that really that bad?" Jeff asked Shawn as they left the strip club.

Shawn shook his head. He was beyond glad to be out of there. Back in the old days he always felt right at home in one of those places. He had been in so many that he had lost track of them over a decade ago. He could have very easily lived in one quite frankly. That had completely changed though. He had completely changed. He had thought that had been clear to everybody long before now but apparently that didn't matter. At least not when it came to "bachelor party" traditions. "You should have just taken me to the bar," he replied. "Watching all of you idiots get drunk would have been better than that."

Jeff rolled his eyes and draped his arm over Shawn's shoulder. "Someone's turned into a pruuuuuuuuuude," he sing songed.

"Mr. Sexy Boy's a pruuuuuuuuuuuude." Now Mor was joining in. Shawn could feel his entire face turning red already. "Shawn's a pruuuuuuude. Shawn's a pruuuuuuude."

"That's enough," Mark finally said. "Leave Shawn alone."

That got Jeff to stop but Mor kept right on going. "Shawn's a prelude. Shawn's a-OW!" He got a hard whack to the back of his head, courtesy of Mark. "What did you do that for?"

"I told you to stop it, now didn't I?"

"But that doesn't mean-OW!" Mor got hit again and everyone else laughed at him for it. Shawn himself was getting a huge kick out of it and he was actually going to see if Mark would do it again when his phone rang and interrupted him. The blush that had been on his cheeks before returned in full force as everyone heard what his ringtone was.

"You vain little bastard," Mark said in disbelief. "You have your own entrance music as your ringtone?"

Glenn shook his head. "I can't believe you sound surprised. We've known him for how long now?"

"Shut up," Shawn muttered. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. "All of you just shut up." He ignored the snickers he got for that in favor of answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Mr. Michaels?"

Shawn frowned. He didn't recognize that voice at all. "Yes?"

"I'm Nurse Peterson at Jennie Edmonson Hospital. We have your fiancé here- "

That was about all Shawn needed to hear for his heart to sink down somewhere beneath his feet. _Oh no…_

…

Vince was the one who got the call about Randy being in the car with John and he made the necessary calls and met everybody at the hospital. Shawn had been praying the entire way there under his breath and the moment Cody heard about Randy he started praying too. They hadn't been told much of anything about how they were doing beyond that they were in pretty bad shape. "Can we see them?" Cody asked as soon as he and Shawn got to Vince (the others were right behind them). "Can we see them? I want to see Randy."

Vince glanced back at the nurses before looking at Shawn. "They might let you go in and see John," he said slowly. "You're engaged to him so you've got the best shot of getting in to see him."

"What about me though?" Cody asked impatiently. He felt Ted's hand on his shoulder and he swatted away. He didn't want that right now. "I need to see-"

"Code," Ted said, trying to reel him back a little bit. "Calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Cody snapped, turning around and raising his hand to slap the hell out of Ted. "Okay? Don't tell me that shit."

Ted quickly took a step back, ready to jump behind Mark or Glenn if he had to. "Okay okay! I'm not saying it." He pretended to zip his own lips shut for good measure, though Cody was hardly amused. He gave Ted quite a nasty glare before looking back at Vince, who was shaking his head.

"They told me that they're only letting family in to see him as of right now," Vince said gently, which was completely uncharacteristic of him. Sure he wasn't always the asshole he portrayed himself to be on camera but a gentle tone of voice was far from what he normally used when talking to them. "In the morning they might-"

Cody wasn't even listening at this point. He was already trying to head over to the nearest doctor or nurse so he could demand to see Randy. Before he got too far though, he was snagged by Mark, who dragged him over to the nearest set of chairs and sat him down in one of them. "What are you doing?" he asked angrily.

"Stopping you from making an ass of yourself," Mark replied gruffly.

Cody scowled and tried to stand up only to get pushed back down. "Mark-"

"Look, you're not going to accomplish anything by going over there and throwing a temper tantrum," Mark said, almost getting down to his knees so he could be eye to eye with Cody. His body violently protested that action though so he grabbed Cody's chin and made sure he looked up at him. "Let the doctors do their thing and when they come over to us we'll see about getting you back there. Alright?"

Cody wasn't exactly happy with that but protesting against Mark wasn't going to do anything but irritate the hell out of the older man. So he sighed in defeat slumped down in his chair. Ted came over and sat down next to him and everyone else just shifted around uncomfortably until Vince cleared his throat and got their attention.

"There's something else I need to talk to you guys about."

"Oh Jesus," Jeff muttered. "Now what?" He got a look from Matt for that but he just shook his head. "What else do you want me to say?"

Matt opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he realized Vince was waiting on them. Vince waited another few seconds to make sure Matt was really done before saying what he was going to. "Hunter was driving the car that hit John and Randy's."

That news was met with lots of stares of disbelief. "Hunter?" Shawn finally repeated.

Vince nodded. "I got the call about him and Randy. I haven't been told anything yet about why he crashed-"

"Was he drunk?" Mark asked gruffly.

"Maybe…I really don't know."

"What if he did it on purpose?"

That question put all eyes on Cody. "What do you mean?" Vince asked, his voice getting a tad bit sharp. Despite being a total jackass Hunter was in very good standing with Vince so he generally didn't take bad mouthing of him very well. And in this case, the road Cody was going down was going over even worse than a fart in church.

Cody though, was too worried and upset about Randy to give a shit. Hunter had issues with both John and Randy. Hunter was the one driving the car that hit John and Randy's. In his worried sicked and freaked out mind there was no way it could be a coincidence or an accident or whatever. "He like hates John because he's with Shawn and he's had issues with Randy…" He saw the look on Vince's face and there was a voice in the back of his head telling him he should probably stop. But then he looked at the others and saw that they weren't looking at him like he was completely crazy for saying this. Maybe they were just hiding it really well. Or maybe they could easily believe Hunter would do something like this. No it wasn't really intelligent being in the crash himself but if he was drunk? His usual intelligence could easily be thrown out the window in favor of impulse.

"Whatever his issues may be, it's disgusting to even think he would do something like this on purpose," Vince said. The look he was giving Cody spoke all kinds of volumes, none of them good. Cody reluctantly dropped the subject and an uncomfortable silence reigned as they waited for some kind of news. To Cody, it felt like they waited for forever. He kept glancing at the clock and he could swear on his life that it wasn't moving at all. That prompted him to look at the clock even more and it wasn't moving. Ted snapped his fingers in front of Cody's face to try to get him to stop it but Cody just absently swatted his hand away and kept his eyes glued to the clock until finally one of the doctors came their way.

"How are they?" Vince asked, speaking for the group.

"Well, Mr. Helmsley has regained consciousness," the doctor said, totally missing how much the majority of the people in front of him didn't give a shit about him. "Beyond his slight concussion he only has a broken nose and a few gashes on his face as far as injuries go."

"What about John and Randy?" Mark asked, interrupting the doctor because he knew how antsy Shawn and Cody were to find out about them. "Are they okay?"

"Mr. Orton's clavicle is broken and we just removed glass from his head-"

"_Glass_?" Cody asked. "How the hell did he get glass in his head?"

"We think his head hit his window on impact," the doctor replied. "He's suffered some head trauma though he did wake up very briefly while we were working on him."

"Did he say anything?" Ted asked.

"Nothing we could understand. He lost consciousness again a few seconds later and he hasn't regained it since. As for Mr. Cena, his arm and two ribs are broken, another one is cracked, head trauma-"

"Can I see him?" It wasn't like Shawn to interrupt but nobody was going to blame him for doing so now. "Please, can I see him?"

"Dude, he's John's fiance," Jeff said when the doctor started to shake his head. He grabbed Shawn's hand and started waving the engagement ring in front of his face. "See? Look, you can tell the rest of us to go to hell until the morning but you gotta let him go see him."

"And I should get to see Randy," Cody quickly said. "I'm his cousin." That just popped out of his mouth without any sort of thought going into it. He didn't have a ring to show he was Randy's fiancé and he didn't know if the doctor would lead him to Randy on just saying he was his boyfriend. So he went with being a family member lie and he could tell by the way Ted was biting back a snort that he was going to get all kinds of "kissin' cousins" comments later on.

The doctor sighed and nodded. "Okay. The rest of you though will have to wait until regular visitor hours start in the morning." He let the others nod their consensus before turning around and leading Shawn and Cody to the rooms John and Randy's rooms. The rooms ended up being right next to each other and Cody briefly wondered if Hunter's room was nearby as well. The thought though was quickly driven out of his mind because he was walking into Randy's room and he saw his boyfriend laying there in the hospital bed. Randy's right arm was in a sling and he was covered in bruises and bandages. "Oh Jesus Christ…" Cody muttered under his breath. He shut the door behind him and approached the bed slowly. He wanted to murder Hunter for doing this. It didn't matter if this had happened on purpose or on accident at this point. The result was this and Cody wanted to take off his head.

"Baby…" Cody grabbed Randy's hand and very gently kissed Randy's forehead before sitting down in the chair next to the bed. He wanted to say something more but it got caught behind the lump in his throat so he settled for silence and squeezing Randy's hand tightly.

He had no idea how long he just sat there. He didn't even take his eyes off of Randy's face to look at the clock. He just stared at his boyfriend and finally, after what felt like an entire lifetime, Randy's eyes opened. "Cody?" His voice was barely above a whisper and it took more of an effort to turn his head than it normally did. "Cody?"

Cody nodded and managed a weak smile. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," Randy replied. He took a couple deep breaths, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Did I get hit by a car?"

"Hunter's car hit John's car. So yeah, pretty much."

"Hunter?" Randy looked even more confused now. "He hit us?"

"That's what Vince said."

"Oh…well fuck."

"Yeah. Fucking asshole." Cody leaned over and kissed Randy's cheek. "Don't worry about it right now though. Just relax. I'm here to take care of you."

Randy's lips twitched. "Dr. Rhodes…"

"Yep. I'm the doctor this time. Though unfortunately, I won't be providing any kinky action. We'll save it for when you're better."

"I can hardly wait."


	25. Chapter 25

Shawn stayed by John's side through the entire night, not slipping a single wink. He just held his fiancé's hand and prayed. John didn't wake up until the morning, after the nurse brought Shawn some coffee to help keep him awake. "Sh-Shawn?" he said weakly.

Shawn quickly put down his coffee and sighed in relief. "Thank God." He leaned over the bed and placed the gentlest of kisses on the top of John's head. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a semi," John said with a groan. He blinked several times and looked around. "Where am I?"

"Hospital," Shawn replied. "You've been out the whole night." He held up three fingers in front of John's face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

Shawn put up another finger. "How about now?"

"Four."

"Who's the president?"

"Barack Obama…or Chris Jericho if you ask him."

Shawn couldn't help but smile at that. "I'm gonna call the doctor in here. You hit your head pretty bad they're gonna want to check you over more now that you're awake." He started to get up when John reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Where's Randy?" John had just remembered that Randy had been in the car with him during the crash.

"He's here too," Shawn told him. "In another room. I texted Cody and he says he will be alright." He contemplated telling John that it was Hunter that had driven into them but then decided to keep his mouth shut about that for now. He wanted to talk to Hunter first and see what his version of the events were before telling John. "Now I'm gonna go get the doc-"

"Yoooo Shawnie, is he awake?" Jeff asked as he, Matt and Adam entered the room.

"He's awake," Shawn confirmed. "And don't call me Shawnie."

"Sorry Shawnie." Jeff gave him quite the cheeky grin as they surrounded John's bed. Shawn decided to take the opportunity to slip out and not only find a doctor but stretch his legs a little bit. The doctor ended up not being hard to find at all. He was just coming out of Randy's room and was heading towards John's room anyway. Shawn briefly considered just following him back in but something inside him made him ask where Hunter's room was instead. He knew that either Jeff, Adam or Matt would end up telling John who's car hit him and Randy's. It was inevitable out of one of those three. What Shawn wanted was to get Hunter's side of the story. He wanted to hear it straight from him, not from Vince or the cops. He slipped into Hunter's room and found him awake and staring at the TV.

"Shawn?" Hunter looked away from the TV in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you." Shawn walked closer to the bed, watching Hunter as he picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," Hunter replied. "It would be nice if I wasn't going to be arrested as soon as I was released from here."

"Yeah well, you're the idiot that drove drunk," Shawn said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Hunter winced. "Shawn-"

"Do you know who you hit? Did they tell you?" Shawn shook his head as Hunter made no attempt to respond. "You hit Randy and John. They're both here in the hospital too. You're lucky you didn't KILL them." His lip curled as Hunter still refused to say anything. "SAY something. Please. Just…what the hell were you thinking? Just tell me that."

"I was drunk," Hunter replied. "I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly not." Shawn paced back and forth a bit, not even sure what to do. "You could have killed them. Your so lucky you didn't I can't even-" he forced himself to stop and take a deep breath. "I can't even believe you right now."

"I'm sorry." Hunter sounded sincere though that didn't really help anything. "Shawn I'm sorry I'm so sorry."

"Why would you even do it?" Shawn made himself stop pacing and look at Hunter once again. "Why? You were _always_ responsible. If you drank you made me and Kev and Scott and all of us take a taxi. You _never_ let anyone drink and drive, _including_ yourself. Why the hell would that suddenly change last night?"

Hunter swallowed nervously. He did not want to answer that question because he knew Shawn was already furious enough with him. But he knew he owed it to him to say _something_. "I was…I was trying to find you," he admitted. "I needed to talk to you."

"You couldn't just call me?"

"I couldn't just…I couldn't say it over the phone. I needed to talk to you face to face."

Shawn shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell was so important then? What couldn't possibly wait until you were sober enough to find me safely? Hmm?" He was trying to keep control of himself but it was hard. His fiancé was laid up in a bed just a couple of rooms away. Hunter was the one that put him in there. It took a lot to make him mad these days but this really did it.

Hunter hesitated again. This wasn't like him at all. He was pretty much never at a loss for words. "I…I…I…"

"You what?" Shawn came closer to Hunter to get in his face. "You what? What are you trying to say?"

Hunter answered that by grabbing Shawn by the shirt and pulling him in for a kiss. Shawn's eyes widened in shock and he jerked his head back violently. "Hunter-"

"Don't marry him," Hunter pleaded. "I love you don't marry him please."

"Hunter…" Shawn shook his head in disbelief. "I'm sorry. I love him I can't…these feelings you have, you need to get past them."

"I'm in love with you," Hunter said stubbornly.

"And I'm in love with John," Shawn reminded him.

"Why? What does he have that I don't?"

"Compassion, decency, kindness-"

"Oh so what, I'm some sort of monster?"

"You prey on people Hunter. You always have. I've always tried to see the good in you but we've been over this. I can't ever trust you enough to have a relationship with you. You HAVE to understand that and you HAVE to move on." He shook his head as Hunter looked down. "I'm sorry. I really am." He got out of there as fast as he could, wiping his lips off with the back of his hand as he went. Cody's theory about Hunter doing this all on purpose popped back into his mind but he did his best to shake it off. He didn't even want to go there right now. He wanted to go back and check on John again.

…

"Jesus fucking Christ," Cooper said as he propped his feet up on the coffee table. He and James were watching the news while Connor was in the other room playing with Snoopy and Spike. Hunter being arrested for drunk driving and hitting John and Randy's car had actually made the news. James had been around the wrestling business long enough to know that this actually making the news was kind of a big deal. Usually the media didn't touch wrestling related topics unless it had to do with Vince and a steroid scandal or someone died. "Why does everyone even care?"

"Well, Hunter was kind of set to take over the company," James reminded him. "Now he's off to jail for being a moron. Kind of funny if you ask me."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it is." He took a sip of his beer and shook his hair out of his eyes. "What's the status of the wedding now?"

"Delayed obviously. Until Super Cena makes a full recovery probably. Which is fine with me. Gives me more time to plan my crashing of it."

Cooper looked at him in disbelief. "Come on Dad, you're really not going to crash it are you?"

"Of course I am!"

"Why? That's completely juvenile."

"I wasn't invited."

"So?"

"If I had been invited I probably wouldn't even have cared to go. But now that I wasn't invited I have to be there."

"Shawn don't want you there dude."

"Soooo?"

"Did anyone ever tell you you're just a huge pain in the ass?"

"I hear that all the time. I take it as a compliment at this point."

Cooper could only sigh and shake his head. _He's ridiculous..._


	26. Chapter 26

"Hey man," John said happily as Cody pushed Randy into the room in a wheelchair. Everyone was gathering in John's room to hang out and Randy had just wanted to walk in there but the doctors refused to let him. As long as he wasn't just getting helped into the bathroom, they wanted him in a wheelchair so they could try to make sure he wouldn't jar his injuries too badly. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh…could be better," Randy admitted. He felt Cody's arms wrap around him and he reached up with one hand to touch the younger man's hand. "How about you?"

"The same," John replied. "But it could be worse you know?"

Randy just shook his head. That was Cena, ever the optimist. He wished he could feel that way but it just wasn't in him. He wasn't even sure how he felt at the moment. Finding out Hunter had been the one to hit them had left him feeling pretty angry and frustrated. It was like no matter what he did, Hunter was still in some way fucking up his life. First he had fucked with his head and emotions and made him afraid of commitment and now this. Maybe this incident wasn't totally on purpose but that didn't change the fact that Randy felt that it was in some way. Just too much shit had gone down between him and Hunter over the years for him to feel otherwise.

"How much longer are you guys going to be here?" Mor asked. He and Phil had totally raided the vending machine and were passing around the snacks. Sadly the snacks were better than the actual food John and Randy had been getting and they were going to have to try to convince someone to go out and get them some real food so they could stop having to starve during meals.

"I think a couple more days," John replied. "Hopefully less. I'm ready to get out of here."

"Me too," Randy agreed. "I hate this place."

"I think everyone hates hospitals," Cody pointed out as he kissed the top of Randy's head.

"What's going on with Hunter?" Adam asked. He and Matt had been off talking to people from the adoption agency to start the process of getting themselves a child so they weren't quite as in the loop as the others. "Is he still here?"

Shawn nodded. "He's being released in the morning and then the cops are taking him into custody."

"McMahon's having a fit about it," Glenn said, shaking his head slightly. "He don't want it to happen."

Matt made a face. "Why not? I mean I know Hunter is one of our top guys and all, but he could have killed Randy and John-or someone else even. He can't just get away with it."

"I agree. And if it was anyone else he'd have them released and let them face the charges on their own."

"Unless it was like me or something," Mark said. "Then I might still have a job afterwards."

"Key word is might," Jeff pointed out. "And you're not part of the family like Hunter is. I bet he could like kill someone and Vince would still stand by him."

"I wouldn't go THAT far," Shawn said, coming to Vince's defense because someone had to. While he understood why their boss wasn't very popular among his group of friends but it wasn't like Vince was the most horrible person ever. He had come through for them before when he had needed to. "I don't always agree with him but there's a decent human being buried in him.

Jeff didn't look very convinced of that. "Then why did he approach Mark about trying to talk John and Randy into trying to get the charges against Hunter dropped?"

"He did WHAT?" Randy and Cody said incredulously.

"Jeff…" Mark said sharply but Jeff wasn't having any of it.

"He wants to get this all forgotten about. And he wants John and Randy here to go to the cops and try to get the charges against Hunter dropped."

Randy rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised to hear that. Vince probably wanted all of this completely buried and he would do anything to make sure it happened. Apparently as bad as it was to have two of his top superstars laid up in the hospital, it was even worse to have another one carted off to jail. "Yeah well you know what? I can tell you what to tell Vince. You can tell him to kiss my ass. Hunter can rot for all I care."

Cody's lips twitched, trying to hide the smirk that was coming over his face. "Oh come on honey. Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel."

Randy couldn't help but smile softly. "Believe me, if I really got started, there would be no stopping me."

"I'm sure there wouldn't be," John said. He was looking to get off the subject now because it wasn't something he particularly cared to think about anymore. He definitely wasn't looking to go along with what Vince wanted but he would just tell him that to his face instead of saying shit behind his back. "Someone should go get us a pizza. I'm starving."

All eyes immediately went to Glenn. "What?" he said in disbelief. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Well, I am the leader of us," Mark pointed out. "And you're my whipping boy and they all know that. Ergo, you're all our whipping boy."

Glenn glared at him. "I'm NOT caring for your logic."

"Who cares?" Jeff smirked and went over to Glenn, pointing his finger at him and bouncing on his toes excitedly. "Get us our pizza bitch!"

Glenn swiped his hand at Jeff and Jeff screamed and ran back to Mark, who gave Glenn a dirty look. Glenn scowled and muttered a few choice words before going off to get that pizza, just like the whipping boy he was.

…

Just like Shawn had said, Hunter was arrested as soon as he was released from the hospital. They all watched it go on from the window and it wasn't long before Vince came to see John and Randy. They were both in John's room and Randy sat there in the wheelchair, with Cody by his side and John stayed in his hospital bed, with Shawn right by his side. "I don't know why you're expecting us to do anything," John said honestly before Vince could get very far in what he wanted to say. "I mean come on. He nearly KILLED us. He could have gotten someone else killed or injured them."

"And if he had, YOU probably would have gotten sued as well," Shawn pointed out. "They would have held YOU and the company responsible for his behavior."

"I'm aware of that," Vince said. "But-"

"No," Randy said, not even wanting to hear it. "He made his bed and he needs to lie in it, just like anyone else would have to do. Get him the best lawyer you can if you want to try to help him."

Vince looked far from pleased from that answer but they didn't care. He couldn't push them into it. None of them were happy with Hunter and hadn't been for quite awhile. He had fucked up on his own by drinking and driving and while none of them actually said it, they all had more selfish reasons for being glad that he was out of the way. It just helped to make life easier.

…

A couple days later both John and Randy were released from the hospital. Randy went home to St. Louis and Cody went with him to help "rehabilitate" him until he had to go back on the road. Shawn and John returned to Texas, ignoring Hunter's attempts to contact Shawn. Shawn genuinely did not have anything to say to Hunter at the moment. Maybe later he would talk to him but not at the moment. All he wanted right now was to get John as close to one hundred percent as possible before the wedding, which was now a week away. He had wanted to try to postpone it but John refused. They had put too much effort into planning it to let it be stopped now. "You sure about this?" Shawn asked yet again as he and John watched Cameron and Cheyenne run around the yard. "Because everyone would understand why we would wait."

John shook his head. "I think we've waited long enough already. Besides, the actual wedding is making me sick to my stomach-I just want it over with."

Shawn chuckled lightly and sealed his agreement with a kiss.


	27. Chapter 27

"I think I'm going to throw up," John said under his breath as he fiddled with his suit. It was the day of the wedding now and he and Shawn were both trying to get ready. Shawn was getting ready downstairs since he was overseeing the final preparations of the stuff that was being set up. The ceremony itself was taking place outside and all the folding chairs had been set up already. Two hundred people were coming and there were one hundred chairs on each side, with a long white carpet separating the both of them to make up the aisle. A beautiful flower decorated arch had been set up and the priest was already standing in front of it, observing the people as they took their seats.

"No you're not," Randy said, smoothing down his own suit before slapping John's hands to get him to stop messing with his. "This suit cost too much money you're gonna hold it the fuck in."

John shook his head. "What if I forget my vows? Or what if I trip and fall on my face?"

"I've never known you to be clumsy," Randy said calmly. He peeked out the window to see how many people had shown up. The seats were really starting to fill up now. It wouldn't be long until he had to get John outside so they could get the ball rolling."

"I'm sure there's a first time for everything," John muttered under his breath. He knew he was being stupid. They had only been planning this wedding for what felt like forever. He should have been more ready for this. "We should have just eloped. Would have been so much easier."

Randy rolled his eyes. "Come on now. You know that's not Shawn's style. He wouldn't be happy with eloping and then YOU wouldn't be happy because you are a sap who feels what his lover feels."

"And you don't?"

"Not as bad as you you sappy shit." Randy clapped a hand on John's shoulder and then pressed their foreheads together. "You can do this alright? Just breathe and pretend we're not even there if you want. Pretend you did elope and it you, him and the priest in Vegas or something."

"Think it'll work?"

"It's worth a try."

…

"How much longer is it supposed to be?" Mor asked impatiently. He was sitting near the front with Phil, Cody, Jay, Glenn and Evan. Mark and Jeff were somewhere inside since they were a part of John's wedding party as was Randy while Shawn had his brothers to make up his. Cheyenne was playing the role of flower girl while Cameron was being the ring bearer.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," Glenn replied as he looked at his watch. "Just be patient."

"Him? Be patient?" Jay snorted so loudly it caused a few heads to turn. "Please. Princess Morrie wouldn't know the meaning of the word even if it came up and slapped him right across the face."

Mor huffed and gave Jay an annoyed look. "Screw you man."

"Oh I know you want to. But I'm not into glittery twinks so you're just out of luck."

"Glittery twinks?" Mor about reached over to slap the fuck out of Jay but got stopped by the glare sent his way by Glenn. The Big Red Machine was under strict orders from Shawn to keep the others under control and he fully intended on doing just that. "Oh you are SO dead later," Mor muttered. He could have risked Glenn's wrath and slapped Jay anyway but he wasn't THAT stupid.

Jay just smirked. He wasn't scared of that threat in the slightest.

"Where the hell is Ted?" Evan asked, trying to steer the conversation on to something completely different. "I thought he was supposed to be here by now."

"He is here," Phil said. He turned back and pointed a few rows behind them on the other side of the aisle. "See? He's with his grandpa."

They all looked and saw that Ted was indeed with some old man sitting hunched over in a wheelchair. The old man was half bald with very light white hair towards the back and his face was pretty wrinkled and scrunched up and he had a big nose and a cane in his hand. "Ummm…that's not his grandpa," Cody said with a shake of his head.

"How would you know?" Jay asked.

"I'm his best friend! I would know these things."

Glenn's eyes narrowed and he leaned back to try to get a closer look at the old man. "That's a skull cap he's wearing."

"What?" Evan squinted his eyes and tried to look closer as well. "How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Well that's a helpful answer," Phil said with a roll of his eyes. "You're saying Ted is with someone in disguise."

"But who the hell would wear THAT disguise to a wedding?" Mor asked.

…

"They're staring at us," Ted whispered. "I think they know."

"They don't know shit," James hissed back. "Quit being such a damn fruitcake and act natural bitch."

Ted pouted his lips and slumped down in his seat. James had gotten his hands on the prosthetics he was now wearing to disguise himself as Ted's "grandpa" and Ted had been pushing his ass around, playing the role of dutiful grandson to as much perfection as he could muster. It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter. James had threatened him with all kinds of painful consequences if he didn't go along with it. He didn't get why it was so important that James attend this wedding. It wasn't like he was close to any of them besides Mark and Jeff. Only thing Ted could think of was that he hated being told he couldn't come so much that he just had to try to stick it to Shawn and crash the wedding anyway. Kind of shitty to do on someone's wedding day but Ted wasn't going to put up too much of a fight about it. It wasn't worth the bodily harm it could cause.

"Pouting like a child isn't acting natural," James scolded.

"Oh fuck off Gramps." That comeback got him whacked upside the head with the cane. "Ow!"

"Watch your mouth boy." James shook his head and looked at the people who had turned back to stare. "Kids these days. No respect I tell you."

….

Cheyenne came down the aisle first, looking absolutely adorable in a white dress with a flower headband on her head. She tossed white rose petals everywhere, smiling and waving to all the people she knew. Cameron came next, keeping his eyes glued to the rings he had on the pillow to make sure they wouldn't fall off. The wedding parties came next, Jeff preening for the people taking pictures until Randy slapped him upside the head, which earned him a death glare from Mark. Matt rolled his eyes at his brothers antics before giving him a look to knock it off. Jeff just stuck his tongue out in response and unbeknownst to everyone but Ted, James almost stuck his cane out into the aisle to trip Mark as he walked by, just to be a pain in the ass. Luckily Ted managed to stop him and everyone but him stood up as John and Shawn met up with each other on the back of the aisle.

"Hey babe," Shawn said. He had such a huge smile on his face that it was going to have to be surgically removed from his face. "You ready to do this?"

John nodded and took Shawn's hand in his. The nerves he had been feeling earlier had faded away now. This wasn't the big deal he was making it out to be. He was marrying the love of his life in front of their family and friends. The day was about celebrating their love and appreciating the road that got them there-the good and the bad.

"I gotta say I'm liking this black and white theme better than I thought I would," Mor whispered to Phil as John and Shawn walked past them. John had on the more traditional black tux while Shawn wore white and had his blonde hair hanging loosely down on his shoulders. "Shawn should have invested in some Rogaine though or something. His hairline is really starting to show his age."

Phil rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'm sure he would appreciate your advice. Why don't you go say that to him? I would love to watch him kick your face in for it."

Mor pouted his lips and shook his head. "I was just saying the obvious. No need to wish violence on me."

John and Shawn made it the rest of the way up the aisle and stopped in front of the priest, clasping both of their hands together. The priest (a personal friend of Shawn's) smiled at them before clearing his throat and getting started with the ceremony. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're here today to celebrate the union of John Felix Anthony Cena and Michael Shawn Hickenbottom."

"Cena's middle name is Felix?" James whispered incredulously. "Oh my god he is _never_ living that down!"

"Ssssshhhh!" Ted hissed.

"Now if anyone has any reason as to why these two should not be joined together in holy matrimony, please speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I thought that came at the end?" Jay said in confusion.

"Shawn decided to rearrange a few things," Evan whispered to him. "He said he wanted to get the objection bullshit out of the way first so he could enjoy the rest of the ceremony in peace."

"It's not even necessary really," Glenn said with a shrug. "Seeing as how Hunter's not here."

With nobody raising any objection, the priest continued on with the ceremony. "John, Shawn, marriage is a challenge unlike any other that life can present us. It takes love, acceptance, commitment and a willingness to work together to get through the hardships that will want to break your bond. Accept life's challenges with grace and dignity, and remember what is truly important: your love for each other."

"A fucking men," Jay whispered, getting an elbow from Glenn to shut the fuck up.

"The couple has decided to write their own vows, which they will now share with us all."

Shawn and John just kept grinning at each other and Shawn took the initiative to go first. "John…" Shawn took a deep breath and smiled at John even more adoringly "when I met you, I had absolutely no idea that we would get to this point. I still remember the first time I ever saw you. I was watching you wrestle Chris Jericho and you had on those ridiculous wrestling shorts that you don't like to talk about." That earned a chuckle from all the wrestlers in attendance and John's cheeks turned slightly red. "And I thought you were a cutie, I won't lie." The priest's eyebrows went up; he certainly wasn't sure what road Shawn was going to go down with these vows. "That was all I thought at the time though. But then I started to watch you more closely. I watched you evolve on camera-and then I got to know you off it. And I came to learn that you are one of the nicest, kindest, most genuine people I have ever met in my life. The more time I spent with you, the more whole I felt. I thought I had already had everything I needed in life before you but I was wrong. With you though, I am complete and today will seal the deal on what I plan to be a very long and happy life together."

"And if you're not down with that, we've got two words for ya!" Kevin Nash yelled.

"Suuuuck it!" more than one person yelled out, Mor and Jay being two of them and getting slaps from Glenn.

The priest grimaced a bit and Shawn shook his head while John chuckled and waited for everyone to shut the hell back up before speaking. "Shawn, I fell in love with you the very first time we met face to face." That earned quite a few 'awwws' from the crowd. "I had watched you on TV growing up and had always admired you, so meeting you face to face for the first time…it was intimidating. I thought I would just be meeting a hero, an idol, but you turned into so much more than that. You had this aura about you that woke something up inside of me and I fell for you so hard. Every time I talked to you I was trying so hard not to be a blubbering idiot that all I felt like was a blubbering idiot. But either I succeeded in not doing it and was just too hard on myself, or you love blubbering idiots." He chuckled weakly. Either way though, I feel so blessed to have you in my life and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you."

The priest nodded and looked at Shawn. "Shawn, do you take John to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish him until death do you part?"

"I do."

"John, do you take Shawn to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish him until death do you part?"

"I do."

"Cameron would you step forward please?"

Cameron stepped forward and allowed the rings to be taken from him. Shawn and John put the rings on each other one right after the other and said "With this ring, I thee wed."

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege, to present to you Mr. Shawn and John Cena-Higgenbottom. You may now kiss."

The happy couple immediately did so, shaking their heads as someone set off an air horn in the back in celebration. Wrestlers. They couldn't take them anywhere.


	28. Chapter 28

"Come here come here come here," Jeff said happily as he practically threw himself at John and Shawn. The happy and newly married couple had slipped away for a quick round of sex and were now just joining the reception, which had gotten started without them. There were wrestlers and they were all around booze. Of course the party started without them. It started without them and would most likely continue long after they called it a night. It wasn't like Shawn and John were the most notorious of partiers these days. That just meant that they all had to do it for them.

"Umph!" Shawn grunted as Jeff put a vice grip around his neck. Though Jeff didn't have a drink in his hand it was quite clear he was already getting started on a full fledged night of drunken debauchery. "Hi Jeff."

"I'm so HAPPY for you guys," Jeff declared. He planted both their cheeks with huge kisses. "I really am." He gave them both another kiss on the cheek. "That was a beautiful ceremony." Another kiss on the cheek followed. "It really was."

"Thanks," John said as he began trying to pry Jeff off of them. It wasn't going too well at all and he had to sigh and shake his head. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not much," Jeff said with a shake of his head. "Just a LITTLE bit. Weddings just make me all emotional."

"That champagne you just chugged didn't help either," Mark muttered. He came over to them and pulled Jeff off of them. "I told you that stuff gets to your head faster than you think." He smoothed down Jeff's blonde locks (they made him wash the dye out of his hair for the occasion) and shook his head slowly. "You're going to have to make me take you out of this party sooner rather than later you know."

"Nooooo." Jeff shook his head and hit Mark on the chest. "No way man. This is going to be the biggest party of the year. You can't pull me away from it. That's not allowed."

"Well you better slow down then," Mark warned him. "I don't want to be babysitting you the whole night to keep you from doing something stupid. Understand?"

Jeff nodded but didn't look at Mark while he did it. He was already scanning the crowd, grinning as he caught sight of Matt and Adam heading out to the dance floor. "Matty! Addy! Wait for me!"

Mark sighed and shook his head. "That kid is gonna be the death of me."

John smirked and elbowed the older man in the ribs. "What a way to go though. If I wasn't so in love with Shawn here I'd be mad jealous."

"Oh yeah, I'm a real lucky guy," Mark said with bit of a smirk. "I've got two pains in my asses. Who else would have those? Juuuust me."

"Hey you brought it on yourself Deadman." Shawn reached up and clasped a hand of his on Taker's shoulder. "You knew what you were getting into. Maybe you should have thought twice about it." He frowned as he glanced around. "Speaking of your pains in the asses, James isn't here, right?" He was actually really worried about him showing up. Just because he wasn't invited didn't mean shit. James had no respect for things like that.

"Not as far as I know," Mark replied honestly. "I told him not to come and he didn't come with Jeff and me-and I didn't see him during the ceremony. So I'm hoping he actually listened for once."

"Hopefully we can count on that hope." Shawn certainly wasn't getting his hopes up too high. He had had too much experience with James to place any hope of him having that kind of decency. "If he does show up though-"

"I'll do my best to handle him," Mark promised. "I really will."

"You better. Or I might knock his teeth down his throat."

Mark just smirked. "I'd rethink that strategy if I were you Michaels." He gave the happy couple a respectful nod before walking off, on the prowl for both James and any antics from Jeff that would lead to some heavy embarrassment and regret in the morning.

…

"How much longer do we have to keep this up?" Ted whispered at James as he pushed him around in the wheelchair. He had wanted to just get him out of here already but of course it wasn't going to be that easy. James couldn't dare let anything be that way. He was making Ted cart him around and get him all the finger foods he could get his hands on.

"As long as I say my boy," James answered, badly impersonating an old feeble man. He popped about six shrimp cocktails in his mouth at once and took a big swig of champagne. "Why in such a rush? This is the reception we're supposed to enjoy ourselves."

"How am I supposed to enjoy myself carting you around?" Ted countered. "I mean, you're supposed to be like a million years old. Realistically, this should be your bedtime."

"Realistically, this is the part where I get up and put my foot in your ass if you don't get me more appetizers."

Ted gulped and glanced around nervously. "Dude come on. I think people are figuring out that you aren't actually my grandpa."

"No they're not."

"Yes they are."

"Not they're not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Who the hell has figured it out? Tell me that."

"Dude!" Almost as if on cue, Cody came up to them. "Who is this man? This isn't your grandpa."

Ted gave James a "I told you so" look before trying to cover his ass with Cody. "Sure it is. He's-"

"Dude, come on. Quit shitting me." Cody poked his finger on Ted's chest. "I've known you for how long now? I know that's not your grandpa." He leaned down to get a better look at the "old man". "Dude, this IS make-up. What the hell, Kane was actually ri-"

"Would you get out of my face dude?" James snapped, getting out of character in annoyance.

Cody jumped back, his eyes widening in shock. "Dude what-"

"Sssssh!" Ted slapped a hand over Cody's mouth to keep him quiet. "Dude. Don't get me in trouble. It's James he MADE me do it."

Cody stared at Ted in disbelief. "Dude, Shawn is going to KILL you! James isn't supposed to be here-"

"I know I know. But James…dude he's scary. It was either get killed by Shawn or get killed by him. Getting killed by Shawn sounds less painful than having James do me in." He wrapped his arm around Cody and gave him a pleading look. "Please don't say anything dude. Please. I just want to get through this without any problem. Can you help me out?"

Cody sighed and nodded. "Alright. But if Shawn finds out, you're taking the fall for it. Got me?"

Ted nodded. "Thanks man." He turned back to look at James and his eyes widened when he saw that the wheelchair was now empty and James was nowhere to be found. "Oh no…"

"Well THAT'S not good," Cody said with a wise shake of his head.

…

James ducked into the nearest bathroom, locking the door and ripping off all the prosthetics that he and Ted put on him. The whole old man shtick was getting old and all the bullshit on his face was starting to itch. At this point, he had gotten through the ceremony and there was enough people at the reception that he could probably go unnoticed for most of the night-if he wanted to anyway. Knowing himself the way he did, he knew that he was going to cause some kind of scene. He couldn't help himself. It wasn't like he was MEANING to ruin shit for Shawn. It was just the reception. The entire locker room was going to get drunk and be idiots. Wasn't like he would do anything worse than that…not too much worse anyway. Maybe he would go a little over the top to get attention…but that wasn't anything personal. That was just his way.

He turned on the water in the sink and rinsed his face off, making sure to get all the sticky shit off of him before turning the faucet back off and dried his face with the nearby towel. He was going to catch hell from Mark if he found him here but he found himself not giving a shit. Let him say shit. Not like it would stop him. Never had before, never would.

…

After about a half hour of mingling and drinking, everyone sat down at the tables that were set up all over the place to be served their food that Vince had been nice enough to have catered for them. Everyone wanted to just dig in but before they could, Randy stood up and tapped his spoon against his glass, getting everyone's attention. "Okay okay everyone, listen up." He glared at the people who still kept talking and they quieted down after a couple of minutes. "I don't want to make a big speech to take up our time because I'm hungry too. But there is something I need to say." He put the spoon down and raised his glass up, which prompted a lot of the others to do the same thing. "Shawn…John…can I tell you how much I hate the way your names rhyme?"

Everyone laughed at that and the newly married couple playfully flipped Randy the bird. He put his hand over his chest, faking being morally offended before continuing on with his speech. "Look, in all seriousness, John, you've been my best friend since we met in OVW. I love you like a brother…hell, I might even love you more than my actual brother but don't tell my parents that." He chuckled a bit at his own words. "And Shawn…most of us here grew up watching you in the ring and completely idolizing you-"

"Way to make me feel old buddy!" Shawn called out playfully. Underneath the table he and John had to himself he took the younger man's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Hey if the shoe fits…" Randy smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Look, I never thought you two would end up together. But you did and you two are without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to each other. Everything about you two is just insanely perfect. Even with all the crazy stuff that goes down in the locker room-and we all know there's a LOT of it-you guys are the stable force besides good old Taker being our wise and all powerful leader. I used to never believe in love myself but things have changed" he looked at Cody as he said that "and I hope to have even half the relationship you guys do." He raised his glass higher and now everyone had theirs up. "To an eternity of love and happiness. You guys deserve it."

Everyone drank to that and Randy was about to sit back down when BANG BANG BANG! A bunch of firecrackers went off at once. Everyone screamed and ducked for cover under their tables, coming back up a couple of minutes later to see James standing there with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Whoops…guess I should have waited huh?"


	29. Chapter 29

"So how much trouble did James get in?" Cody asked. He and Randy were taking a walk through the park a few nights after the wedding. They were alone for the first extended period of time since the reception-in between work it had still been one big giant party lately, even with John and Shawn on their honeymoon. A few of them (namely Mark and Phil) had tried to be the voices of reason but they had fallen on deaf ears. It wasn't until they all had to wrestle hungover at a house show that they decided it was time to stop with the partying.

Randy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know. I know Mark like was ready to strangle him but I don't think he really cared."

"Did you ask Jeff?"

"I was going to but then I realized that I had to care so…"

Cody let out a short laugh before elbowing him in the stomach. "You're terrible."

Randy made a mock hurt expression. "Terrible? Me?" He put a hand over his chest and shook his head. "Never. Never terrible. Just honest." He draped an arm over Cody's shoulders and pulled him closer to him. "If you want to know so bad you ask."

"Eh…I'm almost afraid of what that weird troop would tell me," Cody replied honestly. "I'll pass."

"Good answer." Randy placed a kiss on the younger man's temple and looked around, really enjoying the fact that they were completely alone. They had gotten so caught up in everything that they hadn't had a chance to just be together and relax. No worries, no obnoxious friends, nothing.

"Adam was telling him about the whole adoption process he and Matt are starting," Cody said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "It sounds like a major bitch to me."

"Oh it is," Randy said with a nod. "It's not an easy thing to do. But I guess if that's what they want then more power to them."

"Yeah…" Cody frowned slightly and gave Randy a serious look. "Would you ever want to do it?"

"Do what?"

"Adopt a kid? Or artificially get a woman pregnant or something like that?" He was stumbling over his words because he hadn't actually meant to steer the conversation in this direction. The words just kind of popped out of his mouth and he was trying to just go with it now. "You know, in the future? Not right now or anything. God no not right now. I don't know how Matt and Adam are going to deal with that with our lives. You know, with being on the road and wrestling and not being home much. The kid just can't live on the road with them you know that's not very good for it. It needs a stable home life and I just don't think we could-"

Randy listened to Cody babble like that a bit more before cutting him off with a hard kiss to the lips. Cody immediately kissed him back, moving his arms up to wrap them around Randy's neck. They just stood there kissing for several moments before backing up on to the nearest bench and falling back on to it. Their lips weren't breaking apart for a second. Randy just deepened the kiss, his tongue slowly sliding into Cody's mouth and staying there. It wasn't until their lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen that they finally broke apart.

"I wouldn't mind kids some day," Randy confessed, brushing his thumb across Cody's cheek gently. "But that's not even a conversation that we need to be having right now." He brushed the tip of his nose against Cody's and smiled wryly. "I don't know about you, but I enjoy having you all to myself."

Cody couldn't disagree with that. After all the time he had spent pining over Randy he sure as hell wasn't looking to share him any time soon. A family would be nice one day, but he wasn't ready to settle down in that way yet. "I love having you to myself too."

A smirk spread across Randy's face as Cody followed that statement with moving on to his lap. "Oh yeah?" The smirk got better as he was straddled. His hands went to Cody's hips and he put his face right up to his, their lips almost touching.

"Mhm." Cody acted like he was going to kiss him before suddenly pulling back. "I would love it even better if we were back in our room…" He didn't have to say anymore than that. Randy was up to his feet in a flash, adjusting Cody in his arms so that he was in a wedding carry.

"You should have said something earlier," Randy said, tightening his grip as he almost began to run back to the hotel.

Cody smirked and wrapped his arms around Randy's neck. "Why? What's the rush? You're stuck with me forever buddy."

"Oh I know. And believe me, I wouldn't have it any other way.

…

_One year later_

Randy and Cody were watching the others arrive at the restaurant, both of them barely able to contain the grins that were just dying to come out. They had called everybody there for a special dinner because they had an announcement to make and just wanted to tell them all at once. It was better than relaying the message a dozen different times though nobody else seemed to have the patience to wait for everyone else to get there.

"Why can't you just tell us now?" Jeff asked. He had just arrived with James, Mark, Cooper and Connor and was bugging Randy and Cody off the bat. The only people they were waiting for now were Matt and Adam. They would have been there already but their newly adopted daughter Alyson had a doctor's appointment so they were running a bit late.

"Adam texted me and said they're almost here," Randy replied. "You can wait-"

"No I can't!" Jeff whined. "Matt and Adam can know later. Tell me now."

"No."

"But-"

"Jeff that's enough," Mark scolded. He grabbed the younger man by the belt loop and pulled him on to his lap. "Leave 'em alone." He put an arm around Jeff's waist to keep him in place before reaching over and slapping James's hands. "And YOU! You don't even start."

James, who had been playing with the salt and pepper shakers, glared at Mark. "What? I wasn't even doing anything."

"I know how you behave in restaurants." Mark wasn't going to be fooled by any innocent act. "I'm telling you to not even start."

"Fuck you Mark." That led to the start of the usual bickering which everyone but Jeff tuned out. Randy and Cody were holding hands under the table, snuggling against each other and trying to be patient as they waited for Adam and Matt. It was harder for Cody than it was for Randy, who was doing his best to keep him occupied so he wouldn't just blurt out the news in excitement.

Matt and Adam finally arrived twenty minutes later, Matt holding the diaper bag and Adam carrying baby Alyson in his arms. She was blonde with blue eyes and the cutest little fat cheeks. "Sorry we're late," Matt said as they took their seats. "Traffic was a bitch."

"It's fine," Randy assured him. "How is she?"

"Healthy," Adam replied happily. "Happy and healthy." He smiled as Alyson grabbed at his hair. "Isn't that right sweetie?"

She cooed and tried to put a handful of his hair in his mouth, which made them all laugh.

"So what exactly do you have to tell us?" Mor asked. "What's the occasion?"

Cody and Randy looked at each other before standing up, Cody holding out his left hand so they could all see the ring on his finger. "We're getting married!" Cody just about shouted.

The table instantly erupted into cheers and Randy and Cody both found themselves being bombarded by hugs and congratulations. Randy was surprised, given that they didn't react quite like this when John and Shawn announced their engagement. Then again, those two had been dating absolutely forever before they decided to tie the knot. Nobody ever thought Randy would at all, least of all himself.

How things had changed though. Randy would think back to his life before getting over his fears and being with Cody and he kicked himself for being so stupid. He had never been happier than he was now with Cody. Being with him made him feel more complete than he ever had before in his life and when their wedding took place, it would just be the icing on the cake.


End file.
